Okay all, I have nothing to talk about today, but because of my Obsessive Compulsive Tendencies with the nest, I just HAAAD to post anyway. What a goof. Anyway, since I am lacking in creativity I thought I would pull from Christina’s and fill out her Fun with Forwards. I got started, and then realized how terrible I am at filling these things out because I have about 3 million “favorite” things that change with my mood and the day… so while I tried to be as consistent as possible, ask me the same questions 6 month from now and who knows what you’ll get! J

What were you doing ten years ago?
In October of 1995 I was in my first semester of being a Seventh grader. I was twelve years old and finally in junior high! April D. was my best friend and we were totally inseparable.  I had the biggest crush on “WW” and I would stay Seventh hour any chance I could so we could practice our cellos together (what a dork). Yes, that’s right, I was an “orch dork.” Seventh grade was lots of fun and I did lots of learning. It was the days of “knowing everything” and figuring out where I fit.

What were you doing five years ago?
October 2000 was the best. I was in my senior year of high school and having more fun than ever. High school was so much fun! I was involved in a million activities that constantly had me on the go. My best friend was Sarah C. and every Friday night during the fall we would have a date out to dinner before going to cheer our on our Wolverines! My h.s. football team was on its way to state, and I was dating “SS,” the guy I ended up dating for 2 ½ years.

What were you doing one year ago?
During October 2004 I was into my last semester of college. I was taking my fun and easy classes since I was almost done, so things were pretty calm. I was working in the transcripts department and everyday was so much fun there. I worked with the greatest group of girls. Will and I had been married for 7 months and Will was serving as youth minister at Central. This job kept us very busy. Every Saturday we would load up and drive to Norman for OU game day, which was the highlight of the week. Afterwards we would eat at Ted’s- the best Mexican place in Oklahoma. Last year was lots of fun. I did lots of learning as I became more of a wife and began to contemplate just what I wanted to do with my life once I graduated.

Five of your favorite snacks-

(this is so embarrassing because you will think I eat nothing of nutritional value… sorry guys, I’m being honest with the below list! But I promise I do eat healthy and these 5 things aren’t on my daily menu… at least not all together at the same time. )
1 - Cereal
2 - Chocolate
3 – French Fries
4 – Pasta
5 – Thin crust cheese pizza

Five favorite bands or musicians

(I have a million. Like I said- I’m never good at narrowing anything like this down because I have way too many things I like…so here are just a few…)
1 - Radiohead
2 - Incubus
3 - Trapt

4- Passion cds (this Christian conference every year that comes out with awesome worship cds)
5 – Charlie Hall

Five things you’d do with $1,000,000
1 - Tithe
2 –Save/Invest a LOT of it so we could retire really early and live off what we have acquired
3 – Buy a beautiful lake home and decorate it
4 – Buy Will his GMC truck and whatever it is that I want to drive forever… I should probably factor in about $999,000 of it for gas money, right!?
5 – Give money for Will to shop for football cards and OU memorabilia, and then take a portion and have a hey day at the Limited.

Five places you’d like to run away to
1 – Maine in autumn, I would so love a fall foliage
2 – England’s countryside, when it is cool and misty and foggy
3 - Home
4 – Italy

5 - A big cozy log cabin in the woods when it is cold and drizzly outside and we’re warm and snuggly inside. <3

Five of your biggest fashion faux pas

Just 5!!!?? Man… okay…
1 – Wearing clothes that were too big. Not freakishly big or anything, but a little big and thinking they actually fit- how weird
2 – Large t-shirts tucked in, worn with a belt and with loafers and white socks… why didn’t someone stop me before I walked out the door!?
3 – This dorky Christmas vest- I even wore it in junior high! What is REALLY embarrassing is that my mom wore it after I finally got rid of it… that is something you NEVER want to see as an adolescent hormonal girl- your mom loving your clothes.
4 – Permed hair… what were we thinking?

5- Big chunky plastic rings

Five favorite TV shows, past and present
1 – KING OF QUEENS- admit it, you want the box set too. ha ha

2 – Nigella Bites
3 – Beverly Hills 90210- I had the biggest crush on Dylan

4 – Semi-Homemade, Paula’s Homecookin’… almost EVERYTHING on the FoodNetwork
5 – Home and Away (currently a new show I like. I’ll be honest and say I don’t think it is an all time favorite, but it is a show I Really like at the moment. It’s this Australian soap)

Five biggest joys in your life
1 – My salvation and faith in Jesus ( <--just type in my name)
2 – Willy!!!!!
3 – The thought of going home for Christmas and seeing family and friends and doing a million things that we miss while we’ve been in Kuwait

4 – Lazy weekends with Will

5 –Being my crazy self with the people I love and laughing for hours

Five favorite toys
1 – THE NEST (wow. That’s a shocker)
2 – Our DVD player- it is the only thing we use on the weekends!
3 – Boxsets of our favorite shows
4 – Our Kuwaiti living allowance!!!!
5 - I can’t think of anything else… I can list a few toys I WANT, but all I can think of right now are the first 4. 

So that’s pretty much it. Not much left to say, like I said today was pretty boring! J

Hope you are having a good day back.

Brittny <3

There’s nothing like a three day weekend.

Thank goodness for Columbus.

I have to say I think that is the most random holiday to stop work for. Yes, I know what he did was important… but still… sort of random- but there are no complaints over here.

It’s a double bonus because not only do you get a long weekend, but you get a shorter week to start off with… for THAT I am most thankful. Although I had to be dragged out of bed, this morning was much more bearable knowing it was “Tuesday” instead of “Monday.”

Okay, I have to do the typical, “what I did on my weekend” spill today. Prepare to be really bored.

At least I’m honest!

I do this for me because my time with Will is so scarce that I want to make sure to focus on the positive and the time we do have- plus in doing it here it’s documented so I can look back one day when we’re home and see what were doing while we were living over here.

Anyway… here we go…

Wednesday was pretty boring- but in a good way. Will picked me up from work (which was the best surprise ever!) and we went to the PX to get some storage units, to no avail. So, I still have 2 suitcases full of junk I just “had” to bring and now there is no place for everything. IT is really bugging me. Will picked up a cd and we got junk food- just what we needed. Ha.

I’ve worn “bad“ shoes only 3 times since my foot surgery this spring. It still hurts too much- then again, it hurt before the surgery too.  I decided to get dressed up and wear some tight pointy shoes Wednesday and paid for it. The desert isn’t ready for real shoes. I’ll stick with what I’ve been wearing. My feet were soooo sore. There were a lot more things I was wanting to go look at, but I was in too much pain. The doctor said it may be a full year to heal. I guess he wasn’t kidding.

After that we decided to go ahead and eat since the restaurants in the city would’t be open for a while because of Ramadan. We went to Nathan’s. I had never been there, but it was really yummy. Their fries are incredible. I’m a sucker for French fries.

After that we went home and hung around. Will played his video game and I crashed. By the end of the week I am so sleepy. I think I drifted off around 8 or something. I woke up around 10 and Will and I watched our King of Queens boxset- our weekend theme. I will be so sad when we run out of episodes to watch!

Thursday morning Will’s parents called and I just couldn’t go back to sleep. I stayed in bed for like an hour thinking about my hair appointment- yes I am a dork.

I finally got up and got ready to go. I am such a weirdo. I have to get READY to get my hair done. My hair will be in foils and look all crazy 5 minutes after I get there, but I have to make sure it looks great… better than my first date with Will great… before I see my hair lady. I don’t know why, but its this weird thing I have to do. I guess it’s because she did my hair and it’s her “art” so I feel like I have to let her know I’m taking care of it or something.

I’m strange.

Anyway, on the way there I stick a piece of gum in my mouth and Will freaks out. He actually got mad at me for chewing gum! Okay, I know I was wrong and it Is against the law during the day, but it’s a bad habit I guess.

“What are you doing!? You know you can’t do that!”

“I know, but I don’t figure the gum police are going to check me. It’s not only a whole pice! It’s half a piece. I’m not going to smack for crying out loud!”

He ended up guilting me into spitting it out.

He was right, though. It was really stupid of me to even risk it because I know you can get ticketed for chewing it during Ramadan. It’s a good thing I did because my stylist was telling me the Kuwait mall security guys came in their place the other day just to look around- I’m sure to make sure they weren’t eating or anything.

Okay Will, you were right and I was wrong.

I like my hair place, but I am so used to talking the whole time I get my hair done, and that just doesn’t happen where I go. It’s almost awkward. There is some chatter, but not much. I love getting my hair done and having my stylist be me “best friend“ for the afternoon. Swapping stories and laughing and having a good time. Oh well. I am going to schedule an appointment with my lady back home so at least I will get a fix to hold me for a while.

I decided to do something different with my hair too. I so wish I had a digital camera to post pictures to see what you guys think. I got “fringe.” I thought some longer side swept bangs would help with my huge fivehead. Ha ha.

Anyway, I loved it all weekend, but today when I got ready I decided I’m not sure if I do anymore… I guess I have to live with it for a while. Maybe I’ll go back to loving it tomorrow. J

Will picked me up and loved it, so that made me feel really good. We had to go back to camp that afternoon because we had to pickup our plane tichets (YAY). We got them and ran into my parents. We talked to them a while and headed to the other PX on post. Minus the long trek in the desert and rock, I like that PX so much better. I would go there all the time if I had a vehicle to get me there! We picked up a few things… including WONDER BREAD. I hadn’t had “real” bread in so long.  It’s amazing how plain white unhealthy bread can make me freak out.

I also got a few ideas for what I’m going to get Will on Sweetest Day, so that was good. Fever Pitch for sure… the story of our life regarding OU football (but a little less extreme) and maybe a cd.

We went home and on the way I spotted a Papa Johns In this small little town!! WOW. I had no idea they had one here. I also hear they have a Wendy’s, but I have yet to see one of those. We’ll have to travel out there one night for pizza.  Sorry for my food elation… that was big news in
“L-town” this weekend.

We got home and hung around for a while. Will had gotten the new Brad Paisley cd the day before and was so excited about it- he Is a big country music fan. When we got home he pulled me really close to him and played a song called, “Time Well Wasted.” It talked about how he “wasted” a lot of time fishing instead of trying to make lots of money and stuff like that and how he had no regrets because it was time well wasted (okay, so I’m a terrible paraphraser, but I promise it was a good song).  It was so good and so true. We talked about how short life is and how we needed to “waste” as much time together as possible. We decided to unplug the clock in our bedroom on the weekends because the time we have together is so little and so it is so important to spend as much time together as we can come weekends. It was really sweet. 

Will played his game and I took a nap. The plan was to get up around 630 and head to the mall to catch a movie. We get to Marina Mall and the place is empty.

It is never empy.

We walk to the door and it is closed. Because of Ramadan, it didn’t open until 7:30. We got there around 710, so we waited a little while.  The theatre didn’t open until 8:00, so we went to Pearle Vision and I got my glasses looked at. I think I’m going to have to get an eye exam and probably get contacts. I have been having headaches and I have to wear my glasses almost all the time now. I got them fixed (will had stepped on them… the crooked glasses look just didn’t suit me that well) and went back up to look at the movies.

Choices Choices.

There was Cinderella Man, which we had already seen. In Good Company, which we saw at the dollar theatre back home 2 months before we left… which means it is really old!!  Transporter 2… a real classic I’m sure. We don’t even need to go there with that one, and then Riding the Bullet.

Wow.

What a great selection.

We opted for Riding the Bullet and hoped it was good. We had a ton of time to kill so we went to….

Johnny Rockets!!

Amazing- and totally embarrassing- that in the last week we managed to go there 3 times. Wow. We had so much fun. For 50 fils you can pick a song at your table on these mini juke boxes. We kept taking turns surprsiging eachother with songs. I had no idea that Will loved “Stop in the Name of Love.” How funny. I let him pick more because he was having a blast. I played Great Balls of Fire (great song) and Booige Woogie Bugle Boy- a major oldie. It was fun and really good.

We saw our movie, but continuing to play songs at Johnny Rockets would ave been more entertaining. Will and I should have just left, but we sat through the whole thing. There’s an hour and a half of our lives we’ll never get back.

After the movie the mall was a ZOO! Ramadan brings out EVERYONE at night. It was jam packed. I was ready to leave. We got home and went to bed.

We slept in Friday and decided to make It a lazy day. I really needed tp practice driving, but we were just too lazy all day long. We watched king of queens and Will played his game while I napped. We also figured our how to use our stove. I don’t know If I’m going to like a gas stove or not. I guess time will tell.

It was so nice just to do absolutely nothing. How refreshing. We “fasted” like the Kuwaitis after breakfast and decided to get Fuddruckers for dinner. We got it to go, came home and watched the Everybody Loves Raymond finale on dvd. We REALLY need to get cable! J We are going to run out of series to watch.

We watched that and then Will played the National Championship game while I watched. OU won… something they haven’t been able to do for “real” this seaseon. L

We went to bed around 10. It was sooo nice going to bed knowing I didn’t have to go to work the next day.

I got up with Will super early yesterday and saw him off.  I tried to go to bed, but just couldn’t. I just can’t sleep well without him there. One of my strange things.

I got up and started on the one mission of the day: cleaning the house. I gave it a good cleaning. I was done around 11 and then had lunch and took a nap.

It was such a boring and lonely day.

Having no cable makes things pretty boring when I’m home alone! I had a wonderful surprise around 3:00, though. My dad and sister stopped by to say hello, which totally brightened my day.

It is so funny to see my ‘little” sister growing up. She babysat for the first time alone this weekend. For some reason I was just so excited for her… like she was 4 and just learned how to write her name or something.

Strange.

I just went on and on, asking her a million questions. What a dork.. I know she had to have been annoyed and thinking, “I played with the kid. The parent’s came home. Then I went home. What more do you want from me!”

Then she was telling me about this guy that liked her.. I had such a parental moment for a second and wanted to grill her asking,

“Is he a good guy?”

“Is he a Christian?”

“Does he smoke?”

”What political party does he align himself with?” (yes, I am a total geek)

” What are his parents like?” and all the other questions, but I held back. I have to TRY to play the “cool big sister” and just act like it’s just a regular thing that my baby sister is about to hook up with this guy I don’t know.

AHH. I sound like a parent!

I guess She is not my little sister so much anymore! We talked for about half an hour, so that was really nice. I was so very bored, so that helped to break thingsup.

After they left I decded to stick in Napoleon Dynamite, but it kept skipping so I had to take it out, such a bummer! I cooked for the first time on my stove. That was interesting. There are inly 2 settings, which I thought was strange: a big flame and a little flame. I made plain penne pasta. I made enough so I wouldn’t have to cook all week and I could just add different things in. Will is still at work wen I eat supper, so it makes cooking really easy.

After his visit, I guess my dad told my mom we were like old mother hubbard or something because she called and was like, “We should go grocery shopping. I heard your fridge is bare.”

Thanks dad!

We just don’t need a lot right now because I’m the only one that eats and all I need is a box of cereal and I’m good to go.

I watched a few Raymond episodes while I waited for Will to come home… I also killed the last of the mint chocolate chip… probably not the greatest idea (we may not have much in our fridge, but we have the important stuff!).

After that I headed to the shower. What a shenanigan that was! I threw the old curtain away yesterday and replaced it with a new one. However, it wasn’t long enough. I figured it would be okay and I would just get a new one sometime this week. Well, I showerd and there was a huge watery and soapy flood all over the bathroom floor. What a mess. I got the old ocurtain back out, washed it off, hung it up and cleaned the bathroom all before Will came home. I really need a new curtain now. What a pain.

So,as you can see, yesterday was a pretty boring day, but SO much better than having to work. It is so terrible to wish life away, but I am already ready for the weekend again. Is that terrible? Don’t answer because I already know. I have the countdown in my head. I try hard not to do it, but I am ALWAYS unsuccessful. I keep thinking, “ 3 more days.” I really need to try to appreciate each day, but it can be hard! This weekend was so great. I’m sure everyone else was bored reading about it, but I have never looked forward to weekends like I do now. it’s because that is my only time with Will.

He did find out, however, that he will probably be going back to working 5 days a week, which means shorter days. I know he wasn’t happy about that because he liked the 3 days off, and I felt bad for him because the drive is excruciating and now he has to make it another day, but at least we’ll have a little more time in the evenings together. That makes he happy.

***

So, today I’m back to work. Nothing is really going on. I had to smuggle my breakfast in this morning.

That was fun.

Everything is normal on post, but they ask workers to be sensitive to muslim employees that are fasting through the month. There is a Muslim lady that is supervisor in the same office I work in (she isn’t mine, but I am in the office of those she supervises). Anyway, her office is next door but she is in this office a lot. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning, so I brought a meal-on- the- go bar with me- and I was sooo ready to eat it as soon as I sat down. I waited and waited as she stayed in the office.

That bar was staring me down, looking so seductive and inviting.

How could I say no!? I quietly opened the wrapper and then went back to work. I broke off a tiny piece, ducked behind my computer screen, and threw it in my mouth. I held it there as she came near my desk to use the copier… which was torture.

“Just don’t as me a question and I’m in,” I thought.

My stomach kept saying, “chew! Chew!” and my mind kept saying, “hold it… hold it…Now!”

I took me almost 15 minutes to eat one of those tiny bars. Wow. I’m not even sure she noticed. I am going to have to make sure I eat before work tomorrow! I have been drinking water in front of her, but others have too, so I don’t think that offends her- though I would be tempted to grab the bottle and go at it if I were her! J

Lunch today was the best. Will had to come to my camp so he called while I was in line at Subway and told me to meet him at the recreation center!! I was the happiest girl alive. I had to tell myself not to run all the way there and instead slow down and be ladylike. I was elated.

As a “time person (The 5 Love Languages by Gary Smalley- awesome book)” this new schedule stuff has hit me hard, so hearing Will’s voice and getting to see him filled my love tank.

I felt like such a dork while I was there. Will had already eaten before he came, so I was eating my salad, all immersed in my starvation, and beaming because Will was sitting by me. Then I start to tear up- what a nut. I tear up like 3 times. I tell him how much this time meant to me and how happy I was that we got to do this today. Will looks at me and quietly says, “Is it your time of the month or something?”

Thanks for the sensitivity, hun.

I guess it was silly to get so emotional over lunch with my husband, but leave it to me. If there was any doubt my love language was time, I’ve cleared it up for him.

I am so strange. You’d think spending 30 minutes with him would put me on the top of the world for the rest of the day, but instead I feel sort of down because it has left me wanting more… how selfish! I really need to thank God for the time I was able to get with him toaday because it is the most time I will have had all day with him. I guess I’m strange about that stuff. Nonetheless, I’m so glad I saw him and got to give him a huge hug and eat my salad with pickles (which for some reason he thought was sooo weird) in his prescense.

Okay- how bored are you?? I’m surprised you are still reading. Quick. If someone is STILL reading this (God Bless You), stand up and do 35 jumping jacks so the blood will return to your head…. Ahhh, how does that feel?

Sort of a boring post today but still pertinent to my growth in Kuwait, which is why I have to post the weekend blurb.

Have a great afternoon.

There’s nothing like a three day weekend.

Thank goodness for Columbus.

I have to say I think that is the most random holiday to stop work for. Yes, I know what he did was important… but still… sort of random- but there are no complaints over here.

It’s a double bonus because not only do you get a long weekend, but you get a shorter week to start off with… for THAT I am most thankful. Although I had to be dragged out of bed, this morning was much more bearable knowing it was “Tuesday” instead of “Monday.”

Okay, I have to do the typical, “what I did on my weekend” spill today. Prepare to be really bored.

At least I’m honest!

I do this for me because my time with Will is so scarce that I want to make sure to focus on the positive and the time we do have- plus in doing it here it’s documented so I can look back one day when we’re home and see what were doing while we were living over here.

Anyway… here we go…

Wednesday was pretty boring- but in a good way. Will picked me up from work (which was the best surprise ever!) and we went to the PX to get some storage units, to no avail. So, I still have 2 suitcases full of junk I just “had” to bring and now there is no place for everything. IT is really bugging me. Will picked up a cd and we got junk food- just what we needed. Ha.

I’ve worn “bad“ shoes only 3 times since my foot surgery this spring. It still hurts too much- then again, it hurt before the surgery too.  I decided to get dressed up and wear some tight pointy shoes Wednesday and paid for it. The desert isn’t ready for real shoes. I’ll stick with what I’ve been wearing. My feet were soooo sore. There were a lot more things I was wanting to go look at, but I was in too much pain. The doctor said it may be a full year to heal. I guess he wasn’t kidding.

After that we decided to go ahead and eat since the restaurants in the city would’t be open for a while because of Ramadan. We went to Nathan’s. I had never been there, but it was really yummy. Their fries are incredible. I’m a sucker for French fries.

After that we went home and hung around. Will played his video game and I crashed. By the end of the week I am so sleepy. I think I drifted off around 8 or something. I woke up around 10 and Will and I watched our King of Queens boxset- our weekend theme. I will be so sad when we run out of episodes to watch!

Thursday morning Will’s parents called and I just couldn’t go back to sleep. I stayed in bed for like an hour thinking about my hair appointment- yes I am a dork.

I finally got up and got ready to go. I am such a weirdo. I have to get READY to get my hair done. My hair will be in foils and look all crazy 5 minutes after I get there, but I have to make sure it looks great… better than my first date with Will great… before I see my hair lady. I don’t know why, but its this weird thing I have to do. I guess it’s because she did my hair and it’s her “art” so I feel like I have to let her know I’m taking care of it or something.

I’m strange.

Anyway, on the way there I stick a piece of gum in my mouth and Will freaks out. He actually got mad at me for chewing gum! Okay, I know I was wrong and it Is against the law during the day, but it’s a bad habit I guess.

“What are you doing!? You know you can’t do that!”

“I know, but I don’t figure the gum police are going to check me. It’s not only a whole pice! It’s half a piece. I’m not going to smack for crying out loud!”

He ended up guilting me into spitting it out.

He was right, though. It was really stupid of me to even risk it because I know you can get ticketed for chewing it during Ramadan. It’s a good thing I did because my stylist was telling me the Kuwait mall security guys came in their place the other day just to look around- I’m sure to make sure they weren’t eating or anything.

Okay Will, you were right and I was wrong.

I like my hair place, but I am so used to talking the whole time I get my hair done, and that just doesn’t happen where I go. It’s almost awkward. There is some chatter, but not much. I love getting my hair done and having my stylist be me “best friend“ for the afternoon. Swapping stories and laughing and having a good time. Oh well. I am going to schedule an appointment with my lady back home so at least I will get a fix to hold me for a while.

I decided to do something different with my hair too. I so wish I had a digital camera to post pictures to see what you guys think. I got “fringe.” I thought some longer side swept bangs would help with my huge fivehead. Ha ha.

Anyway, I loved it all weekend, but today when I got ready I decided I’m not sure if I do anymore… I guess I have to live with it for a while. Maybe I’ll go back to loving it tomorrow. J

Will picked me up and loved it, so that made me feel really good. We had to go back to camp that afternoon because we had to pickup our plane tichets (YAY). We got them and ran into my parents. We talked to them a while and headed to the other PX on post. Minus the long trek in the desert and rock, I like that PX so much better. I would go there all the time if I had a vehicle to get me there! We picked up a few things… including WONDER BREAD. I hadn’t had “real” bread in so long.  It’s amazing how plain white unhealthy bread can make me freak out.

I also got a few ideas for what I’m going to get Will on Sweetest Day, so that was good. Fever Pitch for sure… the story of our life regarding OU football (but a little less extreme) and maybe a cd.

We went home and on the way I spotted a Papa Johns In this small little town!! WOW. I had no idea they had one here. I also hear they have a Wendy’s, but I have yet to see one of those. We’ll have to travel out there one night for pizza.  Sorry for my food elation… that was big news in
“L-town” this weekend.

We got home and hung around for a while. Will had gotten the new Brad Paisley cd the day before and was so excited about it- he Is a big country music fan. When we got home he pulled me really close to him and played a song called, “Time Well Wasted.” It talked about how he “wasted” a lot of time fishing instead of trying to make lots of money and stuff like that and how he had no regrets because it was time well wasted (okay, so I’m a terrible paraphraser, but I promise it was a good song).  It was so good and so true. We talked about how short life is and how we needed to “waste” as much time together as possible. We decided to unplug the clock in our bedroom on the weekends because the time we have together is so little and so it is so important to spend as much time together as we can come weekends. It was really sweet. 

Will played his game and I took a nap. The plan was to get up around 630 and head to the mall to catch a movie. We get to Marina Mall and the place is empty.

It is never empy.

We walk to the door and it is closed. Because of Ramadan, it didn’t open until 7:30. We got there around 710, so we waited a little while.  The theatre didn’t open until 8:00, so we went to Pearle Vision and I got my glasses looked at. I think I’m going to have to get an eye exam and probably get contacts. I have been having headaches and I have to wear my glasses almost all the time now. I got them fixed (will had stepped on them… the crooked glasses look just didn’t suit me that well) and went back up to look at the movies.

Choices Choices.

There was Cinderella Man, which we had already seen. In Good Company, which we saw at the dollar theatre back home 2 months before we left… which means it is really old!!  Transporter 2… a real classic I’m sure. We don’t even need to go there with that one, and then Riding the Bullet.

Wow.

What a great selection.

We opted for Riding the Bullet and hoped it was good. We had a ton of time to kill so we went to….

Johnny Rockets!!

Amazing- and totally embarrassing- that in the last week we managed to go there 3 times. Wow. We had so much fun. For 50 fils you can pick a song at your table on these mini juke boxes. We kept taking turns surprsiging eachother with songs. I had no idea that Will loved “Stop in the Name of Love.” How funny. I let him pick more because he was having a blast. I played Great Balls of Fire (great song) and Booige Woogie Bugle Boy- a major oldie. It was fun and really good.

We saw our movie, but continuing to play songs at Johnny Rockets would ave been more entertaining. Will and I should have just left, but we sat through the whole thing. There’s an hour and a half of our lives we’ll never get back.

After the movie the mall was a ZOO! Ramadan brings out EVERYONE at night. It was jam packed. I was ready to leave. We got home and went to bed.

We slept in Friday and decided to make It a lazy day. I really needed tp practice driving, but we were just too lazy all day long. We watched king of queens and Will played his game while I napped. We also figured our how to use our stove. I don’t know If I’m going to like a gas stove or not. I guess time will tell.

It was so nice just to do absolutely nothing. How refreshing. We “fasted” like the Kuwaitis after breakfast and decided to get Fuddruckers for dinner. We got it to go, came home and watched the Everybody Loves Raymond finale on dvd. We REALLY need to get cable! J We are going to run out of series to watch.

We watched that and then Will played the National Championship game while I watched. OU won… something they haven’t been able to do for “real” this seaseon. L

We went to bed around 10. It was sooo nice going to bed knowing I didn’t have to go to work the next day.

I got up with Will super early yesterday and saw him off.  I tried to go to bed, but just couldn’t. I just can’t sleep well without him there. One of my strange things.

I got up and started on the one mission of the day: cleaning the house. I gave it a good cleaning. I was done around 11 and then had lunch and took a nap.

It was such a boring and lonely day.

Having no cable makes things pretty boring when I’m home alone! I had a wonderful surprise around 3:00, though. My dad and sister stopped by to say hello, which totally brightened my day.

It is so funny to see my ‘little” sister growing up. She babysat for the first time alone this weekend. For some reason I was just so excited for her… like she was 4 and just learned how to write her name or something.

Strange.

I just went on and on, asking her a million questions. What a dork.. I know she had to have been annoyed and thinking, “I played with the kid. The parent’s came home. Then I went home. What more do you want from me!”

Then she was telling me about this guy that liked her.. I had such a parental moment for a second and wanted to grill her asking,

“Is he a good guy?”

“Is he a Christian?”

“Does he smoke?”

”What political party does he align himself with?” (yes, I am a total geek)

” What are his parents like?” and all the other questions, but I held back. I have to TRY to play the “cool big sister” and just act like it’s just a regular thing that my baby sister is about to hook up with this guy I don’t know.

AHH. I sound like a parent!

I guess She is not my little sister so much anymore! We talked for about half an hour, so that was really nice. I was so very bored, so that helped to break thingsup.

After they left I decded to stick in Napoleon Dynamite, but it kept skipping so I had to take it out, such a bummer! I cooked for the first time on my stove. That was interesting. There are inly 2 settings, which I thought was strange: a big flame and a little flame. I made plain penne pasta. I made enough so I wouldn’t have to cook all week and I could just add different things in. Will is still at work wen I eat supper, so it makes cooking really easy.

After his visit, I guess my dad told my mom we were like old mother hubbard or something because she called and was like, “We should go grocery shopping. I heard your fridge is bare.”

Thanks dad!

We just don’t need a lot right now because I’m the only one that eats and all I need is a box of cereal and I’m good to go.

I watched a few Raymond episodes while I waited for Will to come home… I also killed the last of the mint chocolate chip… probably not the greatest idea (we may not have much in our fridge, but we have the important stuff!).

After that I headed to the shower. What a shenanigan that was! I threw the old curtain away yesterday and replaced it with a new one. However, it wasn’t long enough. I figured it would be okay and I would just get a new one sometime this week. Well, I showerd and there was a huge watery and soapy flood all over the bathroom floor. What a mess. I got the old ocurtain back out, washed it off, hung it up and cleaned the bathroom all before Will came home. I really need a new curtain now. What a pain.

So,as you can see, yesterday was a pretty boring day, but SO much better than having to work. It is so terrible to wish life away, but I am already ready for the weekend again. Is that terrible? Don’t answer because I already know. I have the countdown in my head. I try hard not to do it, but I am ALWAYS unsuccessful. I keep thinking, “ 3 more days.” I really need to try to appreciate each day, but it can be hard! This weekend was so great. I’m sure everyone else was bored reading about it, but I have never looked forward to weekends like I do now. it’s because that is my only time with Will.

He did find out, however, that he will probably be going back to working 5 days a week, which means shorter days. I know he wasn’t happy about that because he liked the 3 days off, and I felt bad for him because the drive is excruciating and now he has to make it another day, but at least we’ll have a little more time in the evenings together. That makes he happy.

***

So, today I’m back to work. Nothing is really going on. I had to smuggle my breakfast in this morning.

That was fun.

Everything is normal on post, but they ask workers to be sensitive to muslim employees that are fasting through the month. There is a Muslim lady that is supervisor in the same office I work in (she isn’t mine, but I am in the office of those she supervises). Anyway, her office is next door but she is in this office a lot. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning, so I brought a meal-on- the- go bar with me- and I was sooo ready to eat it as soon as I sat down. I waited and waited as she stayed in the office.

That bar was staring me down, looking so seductive and inviting.

How could I say no!? I quietly opened the wrapper and then went back to work. I broke off a tiny piece, ducked behind my computer screen, and threw it in my mouth. I held it there as she came near my desk to use the copier… which was torture.

“Just don’t as me a question and I’m in,” I thought.

My stomach kept saying, “chew! Chew!” and my mind kept saying, “hold it… hold it…Now!”

I took me almost 15 minutes to eat one of those tiny bars. Wow. I’m not even sure she noticed. I am going to have to make sure I eat before work tomorrow! I have been drinking water in front of her, but others have too, so I don’t think that offends her- though I would be tempted to grab the bottle and go at it if I were her! J

Lunch today was the best. Will had to come to my camp so he called while I was in line at Subway and told me to meet him at the recreation center!! I was the happiest girl alive. I had to tell myself not to run all the way there and instead slow down and be ladylike. I was elated.

As a “time person (The 5 Love Languages by Gary Smalley- awesome book)” this new schedule stuff has hit me hard, so hearing Will’s voice and getting to see him filled my love tank.

I felt like such a dork while I was there. Will had already eaten before he came, so I was eating my salad, all immersed in my starvation, and beaming because Will was sitting by me. Then I start to tear up- what a nut. I tear up like 3 times. I tell him how much this time meant to me and how happy I was that we got to do this today. Will looks at me and quietly says, “Is it your time of the month or something?”

Thanks for the sensitivity, hun.

I guess it was silly to get so emotional over lunch with my husband, but leave it to me. If there was any doubt my love language was time, I’ve cleared it up for him.

I am so strange. You’d think spending 30 minutes with him would put me on the top of the world for the rest of the day, but instead I feel sort of down because it has left me wanting more… how selfish! I really need to thank God for the time I was able to get with him toaday because it is the most time I will have had all day with him. I guess I’m strange about that stuff. Nonetheless, I’m so glad I saw him and got to give him a huge hug and eat my salad with pickles (which for some reason he thought was sooo weird) in his prescense.

Okay- how bored are you?? I’m surprised you are still reading. Quick. If someone is STILL reading this (God Bless You), stand up and do 35 jumping jacks so the blood will return to your head…. Ahhh, how does that feel?

Sort of a boring post today but still pertinent to my growth in Kuwait, which is why I have to post the weekend blurb.

Have a great afternoon.

We are going home, but we had to promise our first child to the woman at the travel office. We get to name it, but she takes it from there. On top of that I had to hock my wedding band… all for the sake of going home.

Okay, so I’m joking but I did consider crying in the travel office when the nice Indian man read off the price. I truly love the Indian culture. They are the nicest and most timid people. I was so angry when I heard him say the price, but he was so nice that I felt like I couldn’t yell and instead should just hug the guy or something.

Igot sick. My stomach turned, and I just looked at Will and I could tell my “sick” was multiplied by about 3 for him. We booked and it was for (don’t think I ‘m tacky for throwing out numbers- it’s a plane ticket for crying out loud, not a Coach bag). like $2200 or something. Will looked pleasantly surprised because last month we were online looking and the median price seemed to be about $3100. He kept whispering, “This is great! It’s so cheap!“

So what changed our gladness to sadness?

Here’s what happened.

We book, and then the guy prints off the itinerary and Will says, “Sir, I think you made a mistake and charged us twice it says $4400.”

“No, Sir, the $2200 was the price of each.”

Will got real quiet and let out a, “Oh. Right.”

In his mind I’m sure he was thinking,

“ You’ve got to freaking be kidding me. Can I ship the blonde next to me in cargo or something?”

” How about a Christmas special?”

So, I can honestly say the intense excitement I had been feeling to come home cooled a little today, bu I’m sure once the organ clinic clears the kidneys we donated and the check passes the bank I will feel better. It is just hard for me to get excited about shelling out that much for plane tickets.We still have to book a rental car and a hotel for when we arrive in minneapolis, and one when we go to the Packers Game. I guess we won’t be getting our computer for a little longer. L

I never realized how expensive being a grown-up was. I remember when my family would go on vacation and my parents would want to eat fast food or something a couple of times and I would complain because I thought vacation means eating out everynight. Ha. If only my parents would have diagramed the expensiveness of a trip, maybe I would have appreciated it, but probably not because I was too young.

Now I understand.

After Will and I got married we would take any free meal we could get- even if it was “cheap fat food.” To us, that was like eating at the Crown Plaza or something. It’s amazing what a reality money is when you grow up. I had no concept until I got married. It’s not like I grew up rich, I just never stopped to realize the cost of things. I learned my lesson fast on March 13,2004! J

Okay, enough about money. The exciting this is that we have our trip booked and we are on our way home!

Today I got to meet Laura and Will, a very nice couple. I have been having riding to work issues right now. It would take me forever if I got into it, so I won’t.

Anyway, I made Will take me to work today (he’s off). He was THRILLED. Getting up before God so he could get me to work before 6 was EXACTLY what he was wanting to do on his day off.

I felt happy I could make that happen for him.

We turn onto the road that leads to the camp and I get my badge out. Will just looks at it and groans. He forgot his badge. He can’t get me on without it and I can’t walk because it’s miles away. This just adds to the joy he Is already experiencing from this moring. So, he continues on the road and gets me to the first checkpoint and stops. I bail out and go straight to the random, unsuspecting car behind me.

“ Hi! My husband forgot his badge and has to go back home to get it. Is there anyway I can ride through the gate with you and be dropped off at my office? I know this is probably the most random thing that has happened to you all week, but I would greatly appreciate it!”

So, they let me ride. In situations like this there’s always potential for awkwardness- especially waiting to get through the gates (it took a freaking hour today), but it was fine. They were really nice and we talked the whole time.

Poor Will. On his day off he had to go home, get his badge, and come back anyway because he got called in to do a quick job. So, I got to see him and we decided to book our trip home while we were together. It was a fun morning knowing he was there on the same camp as me. I feel bad because I sort of wasted his day off by making him take me, and now he has to get me at 2 today when I get off (it is our short day. Almost everyone at our companyworks 4 10 hour days and 1 8 hour day). Oh well, hopefully he’ll be forgiving.

I’m all out of stuff to talk about, I mean I could go on and on all day but that’s not good for either of us- me to drag things out, and you to click off prematurely. I will say I am ready for the weekend, even though it won’t be that exciting since we can’t go do anything (because of Ramadan). I have a hair appointment, so though that is not exciting for you all to read, it is exciting for me to think about. It’s amazing how fresh highlights will boost your confidence.

Hope you all have a wonderful hump day and I will be sure to enjoy my “Friday!“

Sweetest Day.

I had never even heard of the “holiday” until the other day. I went in the PX to kill time and started looking at the card section. I could browse there all afternoon if I had the time. I stand there and go card by card and think, “I ought to get this for so and so...” and then I’ll have 4 cards in my hands and have to tell myself (as if I’m 5 or something), “Now, Brittny, just choose one for today!”

I haven’t been card shopping in a while so I thought I would just browse. I don’t really have anyone to send them to rght now (besides family), but I thought it’d be fun anyway.

I always get a little embarrassed because I frequently let out large laughs as I read the Shoeboxes. I don’t mean to, but it always seems to happen. I don’t know why, it’s not like they’re THAT funny. 

I remember one time my sister and I literally caused a scene in Walmart. They had just come out with these duck cards that added “th” to everything, like, “Withing You a Merry Chrithmuth.” or “We Thould be Loverths.” (Okay- that was all I could come up with, but I promise they were hlarious) I promise. We stood there forever, reading each one, dying. My stomach was hurting, and then for some reason when people laugh really hard, their voice volume increases by 45% or something, so were were basically yelling as we read the cards, hunched over with red faces laughing uncontroably.

I’m so strange.

I know when I do this “stand in the card section for an hour picking up and putting back cards” thing people around are looking and thinking, “She has been standing there 30 minutes! Buy something already!” and, “ Wow. She sure thinks those stupid cards are funny.”

Oh well. I enjoy it.

Anyway, I was looking through the card section and saw a whole section devoted to Sweetest Day. It is October 15 and was created in the 40s or something like that. I guess it’s like a downplayed Valentine’s Day and another day to capitialize on candy, cards, and whatever else- though I’ve never heard of it, so I don’t imagine the profits spike or anything.

I’ve been wanting to do something little for Will and now here’s the perfect opportunity (not that I need an actual holiday, but I think you get what I’m saying). I program little reminders in my phone randlomly that say, “do something sweet for Will,” or “plan a little surprise forr Will” but then I forget and continue on with my day.  I think I’ve missed like 2 of those remindesrs,so I’m behind!

Anyway, I’m thinking we girls should celebrate the spirit of infamous Sweetheart’s Day (I have NO idea what that means).

Ramadan began today, so our lives are going to be pretty different for a month. We so look forward to going out to eat on weekends, but that will come to a stop because the places are closed during the day and are overflowing at night, not to mention the intense traffic and cranky attitudes of people on the road since they haven’t had food or water all day. I say all that because I was thinking a fancy dinner at one of the hotels would have been fun and then a little gift basket with goodies or something, but now I just don’t know!

I still don’t know how to work my stove (I’m needing someone to come up and show me this weekend), so cooking an elaborate meal isn’t really in the cards either- not that I could pull that off even if I KNEW how to work my stove (that’s why I need quick and easy recipes Jenny!)

Anyway, that is my ramble… things for SweetestDay… I was thinking a cd and a few bags of candy with a card. Then I think I’ll take Will to the movies. He loves going to the movies. We’ve seen every terrible movie that has come to Kuwait. We get the new ones, but we get new bad ones too- the ones that stayed at your theater for only a week (for example, we saw-and I’m even embarrassed to type this for fear that someone is actually reading this and will totally change their opinion of me because of our crappy selection in movies because I’m a believer you can tell a multitude about people by the movie and music preferences, so please be merciful and realize we live in armpit of Europe- The 4 Brothers last weekend. I don’t even think it registered on the box office scale. IT was terrible). ...  just thinking out loud…

I got Will a card during my lunch. Like always I stood there reading a million cards thta had nothing to do with the mission at hand, but it was a good release. All the Sweetest Day cards were either all gone or dumb, so I just got a funny I love you card. It says,

“*Remember back in elememtary school how excited everyobody would get when the cafteria served pizza? It was always the best day of the week.

*Everyday with you is Pizza Day!“

Awwww now isn’t that just leaking sexy innuendos and just screaming romance??

ummm… not so much…

That’s me for you I guess. pick the dorky one.

Okay, I’m sorry I’ve rambled on and on today about a made-up holiday. I guess that was on my mind this afternoon!

So we have some planning to do for our Sweeties for Sweetest Day! ... yes I really did just say that…

<3 See you in the card aisle. <3

Today was my most eye-opening experience in Kuwait thus far.

Medical.

I was trying my best to conjure just one word to sum up the day, and all I could come up with was going back and forth between yuck and wow.

To obtain a civil ID in Kuwait there are a series of things you must do. One of them is medical. With Ramadan coming this week and everything slowing to 4 hour work days at the gov’t, my company decided to squeeze in a last minute group. I have heard a few things here and here, and I rarely get details about that sort of stuff from Will, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

As I got out of the car this morning my dad rolled down the window and said, “Just make sure they use a new needle.“

He drove off before I could tell if he was joking or serious. Way to scare me!

So about 30 of us are all waiting outside- I am the queen of embarrassing moments, mind you, so little phases me anymore. Of course I’ll get embarrassed, but it’s a weekly thing so I have truly learned how to laugh things off.

Well, today I was digging out my phone from the Abyss (AKA my purse), and a huge, green super absorbent tampon goes flying out, doing some amazing acrobatics and then hits the ground… all without me even realizing it.

Okay girls… maybe this is totally just me… but if that happened to someone else and 30 people were standing around I would not have walked all the way to the other side of the group to the girl, bend down for everyone to see, and pick it up and proudly say, “Here you go. You dropped this. You will probably need it!”

Okay… I’m sure she was trying to be nice… but please don’t ever do that to me if you see me and that happens. I promise I will find a way to get another tampon if I’m that desperate- even if I have to get primitive or something.

So that is what happened to me this morning. All these guys were staring at me and chuckling. As she handed it to me, and as everyone was watching the exchange in slow-motion, I let out a, “Thanks… because that’s not embarrassing!” I laughed and go back to digging for my phone. What a morning!

After that we split into groups and got on small mini-euro busses and headed off. Our first stop was finger printing. I would say, from what I’ve seen and been told, that most Kuwaitis that work either own their own business or work for the government. Since this is such a wealthy country I would assume that all government buildings are as nice as the ones I’ve seen thus far, however this building was a surprise. This whole trip made me feel like I was in the Pre-Gulf War Kuwait before things westernized. I considered going into a description, but I have a million more words to write so I thought I’d cut it out. You’re probably thanking me.

We get to the fingerprinting office and they separate the guys and girls. No one spoke English there (though I’m sure they could have if they wanted because almost all Kuwaitis do and they were the ones working there). Anyway, the lady grabs my arm and pulls me into the office and takes all my fingers and aggressively starts rolling them in the ink and shoving them on the paper. I’m thinking any second she is going to take me thumb and plant it on my forehead just because she felt like it.

Afterwards I asked where a sink was and she looked at me like I was an idiot. I then began to make a washing motion, which futher worsened the problem.

“Okay. you win. I’ll go around looking like Ink Freak Girl. Whatever.”

We found a sink nearby, with what seemed like detergent poured on the tops of the sinks. There wasn’t soap, so we went at the detergent stuff...and it worked well.

Fingerprinting wasn’t too bad.

The next stop: my first experience with public health.

You can literally have a baby here for like 20 bucks. No lie. I don’t know how everything works, but the government provides the health system and it is very cheap. I’ve heard both good and bad… and I’m sure there are lots of both, but today was a “bad.” I’m sure some of the clinic around the city are nice, but I think the guy that took us went out of his way to take us to the crappiest clinic in the country just so we would say, “Thank God for private hospitals here.” At least, that is what I said.

We park and make a pit stop at a Kuwaiti deli. now THAT was an experience. I’ve never been to a restaurant here that is truly “Kuwaiti,” where absolutely no one spoke English and it was all arabic- the menus, the cooks, everything. That was hectic. I was so thankful that everyone speaks English in the city. We were all crammed in this tiny little shop and we were telling our “guide” what we wanted and he would yell it out in Arabic and we would wait and cram some more as more people filed in, yelling orders. It was confusing, but it was sort of neat. I couldn’t tell you what I had for lunch (besides french fries), but it was okay.

After that we went to the dreaded hospital for blood work. What an experience. I think half of Kuwait was sick today, and maybe all of the children were. It was a zoo. I wanted to bathe in antibacterial gel the second I walked in. It was sort of dark, and crowded, and it wasn’t the coolest feeling place either- which to me equals sterile.

I kept expceting to see sick people lying on the floor with random nurses putting cold compresses on their heads and screaming for a wooden stick for the person to bite on to dull the pain.

The line was out the door. It is really sad because they workers just pushed us in before those from India and the Phillipines. I always feel bad when wthat happens, and I’m sure it gets annoying for them too. The caste system is really bad here.

Well, anyway, we got in and I sat down. There was an Indian next to me, and I wached as this lady took out a used needle and drew his blood!!!! I was shocked.

Wow!

My dad wasn’t kidding!

I asked the guy that took us if I would get a clean needle and he assured me I would. I watched just to make sure, and I was okay.

Hmmm, I wonder if my short bout of dysentry last week will show up in that sample ? ha ha.

After that fun I had to go to the bathroom, yet another adventure. I walk in and think I accidentaly stepped into the men’s room. Have you ever heard of a women’s urinal? I sure havent. I pass the first stall and literally see a hole on the floor surrpounded by a little porcelain so you don’t spray.

“What is that!?”

I go to the next one and see the same thing. I have no clue how to do that. I will pee all over myself, I just know it. I cross my fingers for the 3rd one and luckly find a real toliet. I go and realize there is no toliet paper.

you’ve got to be kidding me.

I didn’t have my purse with me, so I was on my own. Alone. In the third stall. Wishing the lady using the urinal next to me could save me, but knowing she couldn’t. I felt like the last person on earth, desperatley needing the last arm length of toliet paper only to see nothing but desolate desert.

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t understand how people can use those hoses and not need to dry themselves afterwards. I just can’t do it. They are in every bathroom, but they also usually have toliet paper. Anyway, after that fun there wasn’t even a knob to flush. So… they have a toliet… but no handle to flush and nothing that even looks like a handle was supposed to go there or even went there at one time.

Wow.

When I think of hopistal bathrooms I think of sterile and ones that I could eat off of of (okay TOTALLY joking, you all KNOW I am a germaphob), but this was the toliet out something from a deleted scence of Texas Chainsaw or something.

Women urinals… go figure.

After that fun we had one more stop. The X-Ray station. Once again, I think half of Kuwait decided to show up to this hospital as well. It was so crowded. they should have been passig out masks as you walked in because you were all justsharing the same air, spores, moisture from breath (YUCK). We get separated again and then get literally yelled at to go in this room. This lady was very mean and scary, She startged tugging at our clothes and giving us these orange gowns- think criminal jumpsuit vamped into a dress. We get undressed and then the lady is yelling at me to do something and I have no idea what in the world she is saying. I look to this Arabic girl behind me, hoping she would offer some help… but no. I have no idea what she is saying so I proceed to the next area and get my xray and she is still freaking out. I go back in and she shakes her hand at me.

“I don’t know what you are saying.”

I say this 4 or 5 times and then finally I just let out a , “I like McDonalds, do you!?” I knew we weren’t getting anyhere, so it helped me to relieve the tension of having no clue what I had done to anger her.

I changed out of my sexy dress (and kicked myself for leaving my camera at home!) and then the lady pushed me!! I turned around and she pushed me again and started yelling, “out!!” Now, I KNOW what that means. I left the room totally freaked out. I will forever go to private clinics where I know someone will speak english and I won’t get screamed at.

Medical was quite a day, and my rose colored glasses of Kuwait have been tainted… okay, I never ever had rose colored glasses of Kuwiat to begin with, but I’m sure you get what I’m saying!

We got back to Doha before noon. I was excited because I was going to get off with my mom at 3:30, but she is at another camp today, so I’m on my own. I have to wait for my dad to get me now, which is a huge bummer because I’ll get home late. Will had to get up at 2:00 today!! He got home after 9 last night, we had to run to the pharmacy so I don’t get knocked up (which is another story I could share but don’t have time), and then he went straight to bed. It was a very short night for us. He got up at 2 and I went back to sleep until he left around 2:35. I have a hard time sleeping in a new place sometimes, and when Will left I couldn’t seem to get back to sleep. I dozed off here and there, but I knew the prayers were coming soon, so I figured I may as well stay awake so I wouldn’t be scared when it happened. I ended up dozing a little more. I will be ready to go home, have my “stoveless” dinner and go to bed with Will whenever that is… hopefully sooner than later. I’m sure he will fall as soon as he gets home.

I need a freaking t-shirt for this long day.

I’ve missed you all so very much!!

I know we don’t know eachother, but I really do feel like I’ve found an awesome group of girls that I “know” through the daily reading of blogs! From time to time I thought about Christina and if she had taken her big test yet, and if Jenny would wait on my recipe (thanks for waiting!), and Renee, Zoe… okay about a million of you, seriously! Don’t think I’m crazy. I probably sound that way, but being away a few days did a number on me!

Where to begin?

Well, we are in… we are not moved in, but we are “in.”

Will is moved in, but of course he would already be done- he’s a guy and had like 3 bags to mess with. I, on the other hand, have about a weeks worth of stuff I need to find a place for. I brought entirely too much with us. When we moved, the company paid for 100 pounds per person plus 2 suitcases. we shipped over 200 pounds, plus our 2 suitcases.

200 punds really isn’t that much, but boy did I bring a ton of crap that at the time I just KNEW I’d need here.

heh.

I now have 3 1/2 boxes of winter clothes. What a dork. I live in the most hellish place on earth and wanted to make sure I brought my favorite sweater. When in the world am I going to need that much!? It gets cold come December, but I certainly didn’t need the 2 coats and 53 million sweaters. Oh well. Then, I brought like a box and a hlaf of comfy clothes- as if people don’t wear yoga pants and sweats in Kuwait or something. What a goof. That’s me though. Okay, let me recap…

Wednesday I had the day off to move. We slept in (which was very nice) and got around and got our million boxes downstairs and in the Sooner mobile. We made sure to inspect the apartment before moving all our stuff up. We didn’t want another freak apartment incident like last time. Everything looked great. I am going to have to do some cleaning still, but I’m not even going to mess with it until I can see the floor again and no sweaters and boxes.

Will was finished moving Wednesday night. I however, am going to require much more time to sort through the plethora of crap I brought along. Space is not utilized very well in the apartments over here either, so I am going to have to buy some stuff FAST. I am going to the PX today to look for some storage bins, but I’ve also heard IKEA has some great stuff, probably better than the PX. I don’t know if I can wait that long! I’m going crazy with our stuff strewed everywhere!

Our apartment is really nice. The decorations are pretty terrible, but I’m sure we’ll look past that in time. We’ll be able to add some of our own stuff, so it will help with the yucky curtains and weird pictures. There are a few things that are going to take some getting used to.

We don’t have outlets in our bathroom! That is going to drive me crazy. What bathroom doesn’t have outlets!!!? Apparently we are not the only ones here that have that problem. So, I guess all of our appliances will be decorations for our small dresser. How lovely. I just love a good beard trimmer on top of my underwear drawer!

Another thing that I’m going to have to get used to is the stove. We are starving at our house! (not really) We have a gas range and I have no idea how to use it. I asked my mom and she doesn’t know either. I told Will I’d make him dinner Friday night, but I didn’t want to blow up the kitchen, so I thought I better wait and have someone show me how to do it. He comes home so late that he misses dinner anyway, so I’l be fine with Easy Mac or cereal or PBJ for a while until I can have someone show me how to feed the crazy couple.

The last thing (so far) that is going to take some getting used to is the freakish middle of the night scare I will have for the remainder of our time here. I seriously think we live in the middle of Mosque Central. No lie. There are mosques on every corner just like baptist churches in the south, but for some reason I truly believe we are near about 4 or 5. The first night we were there I was in a deep sleep, but at about 3:30 the prayer over the loudspeaker started and I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants. If you aren’t ready for it, it can be a little scary sounding. They finish the prayer and then I readjust myself, contemplate using the bathroom, and begin drifting off to sleep, only to hear another prayer, a little more in the distance. This happened 3 times.

I just stared at the ceiling thinking, “You’ve got to me kidding me.”

I’m not going to enjoy the wake-up calls!! And also, since Ramadan starts this week they have upped their prayers to like 15 times a day (okay, it just seems like that, but it is more than just the 5). I was getting ready this morning and I heard it 3 times throughout the morning. Of course, it could be the 13 different mosques around us.

Who knows.

That will be the biggest adjustment. Almost everyone is near one, but we were a little secluded in our last place, so this will be an adjustment!

One thing that I won’t have to get adjusted to is being with Will. It has been so nice to have our own place. I honestly feel like we’re just married again. I remember the first week back from our honeymoon I would be at work and think, “I get to go home to Will and we get to have our own place and play house and do whatever we want.” It was such an awesome feeling, and I am feeling it all over again. It has been so much fun. i truly feel like a newlywed. It is amazing how refreshing going from being with your parents to being alone again has been. i dont mean that in a negative way, but this weekend was so great becaue it was just us and we were in our messy, winter clothes laden house. Ahhh

Thursday morning was spent putting some stuff away, but not as much as I truly needed. Will is so different than I am when it comes to this stuff. He’s the, “life’s too short, let’s enjoy the day, “ guy, while I’m the, “If I don’t get this house unpacked today I am going to enter into a huge mouth foaming fit, with leg twitches and all” type person.

I remember the immense stress I was under right before we moved to Kuwait. We had a week to do everything. Between getting a realtor, a power of attorney and storage unit and insurance stuff and packing- I thought I was going to go crazy. Will acted like we had 3 months to get it all done. He broke no sweat… “It’ll get done.” Anyway… I gave that whole speech to say his carefree attitude won Thursday.

We unpacked a little and then watched a couple hours of King of Queens. I had an eyebrow appointment at 3:00, so we went to that and then decided we might as well enjoy our weekend instead of packing (because, in the eyes of Will, “it can wait.") After that we went to the movies. We were early (and starving) so we bought our first movie meal ever. We split a hot dog and nachos and cookies. You know we’ve been married for a while when a hot date is a late lunch at the theatre. ha ha. After our movie we walked around. It wasn’t miserable outside, so we walked up and down the street by the mall. It was a lot of fun, and I forgot about the million things I needed to do. We ended up having a late dinner at Johnny Rockets. We both had never been, so it was lot’s of fun.

Friday was shopping day. We got up early and I did something I haven’t done in 5 months… DRIVE! It was scary and a little hectic, but I made it through okay. The round-a-bouts are the worst! I don’t know why they insisted creating them here. I’m sure they make sense in Britian, but here no one waits their turn and people are literally 4 in a row. It is insane. That is one thing I will never get used to. Luckily we went early on their holy day, so it wasn’t too bad. I’m going to have to practice that!

Grocery shopping was so much fun… for me anyway. I’m sure Will would say otherwise. That probably sounds crazy! It had been 5 months since Will and I had been to the grocery store together, so it was so much fun being together and picking out stuff… and just plain grocery shopping for us! Crazy, I know. It’s amazing. We spent around $375 and having nothing to show for it. We have 3 things in our freezer, butter, pickles, and something else small in our fridge… we are still extremely sparce. I forgot how expensive setting up a house is! We had to get cleaning stuff and detergent, and bath mats, and extra dishes. It was an expensive starter trip. Now we’ll just have to get groceries next time (and a few other things… I NEED A SWIFFER SO BAD!!!! I can’t find one anywhere! They either sell the swiffer but no refills or don’t have it at all.. I’m going crazy with an all tile house!). We got to the checkout line and Will used his card but forgot the pin. It didn’t go through. He tried again, but still couldn’t remember it. Any other time in our lives we would have been in a panic. My face would have probably turned red and thought, “Great. He forgot his pin and now we are going to have to put everything back.” However, we just used our living allowance and were able to take care of it. That was the first time ever something like that wasn’t a big deal. Grocery shopping was sad before we moved over here. I can’t even tell you how many Lipton noodle nights we had! God always took care of us, and we always had what we needed, and we knew what we were doing what He had called us to do, but it was a nice feeling not to have to worry when we went yesterday- another blessing from God.

Anyway. Enough about that! After that we put our stuff away and met my parents for lunch at.. Johnny Rockets… again. We didn’t mind. We really liked it. It was nice to meet them for dinner and get to talk and “Catch up (since it had been soooo long since I had seen them!)” and know that we were going separate ways afterwards. Just like old times. Such a nice feeling.

We came home and I did a little more unpacking and then Will and I sat down and had a financial meeting. We sat down and really talked about our bills and what we wanted to get rid of and pay down, etc. and then we set our financial goal for being here. We talked about how much we wanted to dsave a year. We both had numbers in our head. We talked about them and came up with a number and then figured up a budget to see how much we would be living off of once we out that number back. It was really good for us to talk about and plan because now we are truly working towards our goal.

After our “business meeting” we sipped crystal light and sat on our balcony. It was so nice. We talked about our big Green Bay trip, work, about how much we love King of Queens… just about everything! We went back inside and watched… any guesses?… 4 King of Queens. I don’t know what we’re going to do when that show ends! It will be a sad sad day for Will and Brittny. We are obsessed with the show. This is so very sad. This morning when we were getting ready Will looked at me and said, “How old are Doug and Carrie?” like they were our real friends or something.

Wow.

We’ve got to get our more.

This weekend was so great. I know it just sounds like another weekend of grocery shopping, talking money, and stuff like that, but it was so new and refreshing for me. I am already looking at the clock thinking about going home and unpacking some before Will gets home. I’ll only have about half an hour with him until he has to go to bed, but it will be half an hour of his undivded attention in our own serenity. That is the most amazing feeling. I truly forgot the power of togetherness in your own space. I am getting all giddy just thinking about it. It is something I think we can take forgranted if we’re not careful. This weekend really brought me back to my first weeks as a bride and trying to unpack everything and turn our place into a home and being excited knowing my husband is coming home to me. How exciting.

Wow! I’ve rambled a lot!The amazing thing is that I could go on and I have about 4 more things to say! Oh well. I’ve been gone a long time, so that is why! I won’t have access to a computer tomorrow, so I look forward to catching up with you all in the next couple of days! I’ve missed you all!

Will and I are planning on getting a computer in the next 3 weeks or so, so that way I’ll be able to stay in touch with America better.

Have a great rest of the weekend. Give you husband a huge hug tonight and truly soak in the fact that you are alone together in your own space. The thought of that has overwhelmed and enveloped me all day

Yay for moving day!!

Finally after almost 5 months, Will and I will be married “for real” again. I am so excited to have boxes around us tonight, sitting on OUR couch, watching OUR TV…

Alone

Together

Finally.

Have a great day. I look forward to catching up on you all Saturday.

<

I have once again fallen victim to the language barrier, but this time it was my own language.

I work in the same office as a nice British lady with a very strong accent. She was telling me about all her kids and how her oldest is this creative guru.

“Yes. She works for The Knot have you heard of it?”

I about died and went to heaven.

“Are you serious!? I love the knot! I was on that site so many times while I planned my wedding. She probably knows all the awesome people that run the site and not only does she work with them, but she is ‘one of them.’ Wowie.”

I could have went on and on but she cut in about the weddings.

“Oh yes, weddings. She has done sooo many things with weddings. She creates gift baskets for those in the weddings. In fact, she just got back from Boston and New York because she was at a buyer’s convention.”

I was estatic. How cool is it that someone’s daughter I work with works for the knot!

“That is so much fun! I would so love to do that. I would love to see what all she does. I bet her job is so great.”

“Oh yes, it is. She is the event planner. She designs wedding cakes and does so many other things.”

“How fun. Like I said. i LOVE the knot.”

This conversation has been pretty much the same, but a little varied for the last 2 days, her talking about her daughter and me either being excited or pretending to be because I had initially showed so much enthusiasm.

So today she brought in Kuwaiti pastries that her oldest daughter had brought home from work. We started talking again and we got into how busy her daughter is with weddings right now and how she is designing this beautiful cake. I stop for a minute and think to myself, “Her daughter brought those pastries home… so she lives in kuwait?”

So then I ask, “So your daughter lives in Kuwait? That’s interesting. So, does she just work from her computer all day and send stuff in? How does that work?”

The lady stops for a minute and says, “No. She works here. At the knot.”

“The knot… Right… but how?”

“There is one just 30 minutes away. She is the events coordinator, remember? See these pastries? She designed them and her chefs made them.”

I’m totally confused at that moment and then it hits me… what a dork… she works at Lenotre, which of course to any normal person would have made sense, but to a nest addict that has a hard time understanding anyone who doesn’t speak “American,” she worked for The Knot.

I try and play it cool like I knew the whole time, but it just didn’t work out too well. I am such a dork. THAT is how you know I am far too addicted to the nest: I literally have selective hearing.

What a day. I’m already trying to fit in with everyone, and now they think I can’t comprehend and understand normal people’s lives.

Real cool… but that’s me.

I’m sure they’ll find out soon enough.

Hope you have a nonembarrassing day… and maybe one of us WILL meet someone who works for the knot.

<3

My heart started to race, and I began to breathe a little faster(before letting out a long sigh).  I started to fidget, and then the mind racing came.

“What should we do?”

” Should we suck it up and do it?”

“Should we not, leaving me to feel bad?...”

so many options.

I mean, I’ve done it during the day and it was fine, but am I really ready to move this fast? It’s only been 2 weeks, and only 3 meetings. I just don’t think I’m ready to get this serious and pursue this level of commitment… or am I?
This was me considering our first date and if I should use, “The No.”

I met a girl here and I think I like her, but I can’t be for certain. We’ve went to lunch, and the first couple of times were great, but then came the crucial 3rd date. This meeting is a very important one in getting a feel for how far you want things to go. Is it going smoothly? Can you look ahead to a few more meetings, or is the excitement of having a potential friend gone and you’re just ready to finish lunch and do tons of paperwork?

This is a very big thing. Today I got an email from her asking Will and I out to dinner with her, her husband, and their baby.  I froze. Such a complex matter. I still didn’t have a concrete feeling about the 3rd meeting. You can often tell a lot about the “chemistry” between friends. Is this person going to be the new best friend for me in the middle east? Will she be “the one” I will want to call up and chat with on a regular basis? Or will she be my work best friend? The girl I do everything with when I’m at work, but rarely hangout with outside of work? She could just be a casual work friend too.

Then…

Then comes the absolutely biggest commitment ever because not only is this just about you, nbut now it involves we:

The Couple Friends.

This is an area Will and I have yet to master, and we don’t have very much experience with the matter. I’ve talked about this before, so you already know my complexs, but here I go again. Couple Friends are very difficult. I think in the coming future Will and I will want one, but I’m not sure if we want one right now. I mentioned my friend to Will the other day and he groaned, “You’re not gonna want to all go out and do stuff are you?” That would have normally annoyed me, but for once I understood.

The only time we have together is weekends. When Will gets home it is time for bed, so like most couples, the weekends are very precisous things and are an important time together. It is the time we just want to sit around and watch out King of Queens boxset in our jammies all day. I guess we’ve become homebodies. Thursday is out out and about day to go on a date and run errands and things, but Fridays are the barely move day, when we just sit and do nothing. It’s out time together, so I didn’t take his comment as a bad thing. I have become the same way.

Amazing!

I complain that I want friends here so badly, but then I consider using, “the no.” What’s wrong with this picture!!?

I would love to get together once a month and have a fun girlds day, and I thought that may be where things were heading but then I got the Couple thing dropped on me and I felt a little overwhelmed (look at me! Overanalyzing everything to the point of feeling, “a little overwhelmed” what a nut). That is something I think I need to ease into.

There is so much pressure when you go from a 3rd lunch date straight to the “Big O “ of a couple date. It’s like getting up to the plate thinking you’ll get a single, only to hit it out of the park. I mean, I like this girl and I think we could be friends, bu I think I need to get to know her before taking Will alond for a “getting to know everyone” couple date. That way at least 2 of the 4 people can help guide conversation.

Then, there’s the pressure of wanting the husbands to hit it off and be able to talk the whole time during dinner… or at least talk at all! That is how successful couple friends work- the guy likes the other guy and the girl likes the other girl. It makes things not as fun when one of the two aren’t excited about going out with the couple. It can be hard to find 2 compatible people to have a friendship with. I think I need to know how much we’ll like eachother and how far I think we’ll go before making Will come along for something he’s not thrilled for in the first place.

This is just like dating! That is exactly how I sound!! AGH! I thought this was over!

Then I started obsessing… “Well. the 3rd date was sort of neutral. I couldn’t really tell anthing. Maybe it was me. How do you get to know someone anyway!?” I definitely need to get to know her better before the couple date, I decided. I didn’t even have to call Will to see what he thought because I knew what he would say, “Please no!”

I wrote her back a (hopefully) nice note saying this weekend wasn’t gaood because we were moving- which is the entire weekend plan.Then I did something very questionable, and I’m kicking myself for it. I left an “in.” I added, “But hanging out sounds like fun!” Agh. Should I have put that? I don’t know. I want to get to know her better, so I guess that was okay to put… but it is all a matter of interpretation. I’m hoping to squeeze more lunch dates in before we have the couple date, just to make sure we are a compatiable pair (once again talking like we’re dating for real or something). I didn’t hear back from her today, I’m afraid I upset her, which would be such a bummer. I hope I do because I would like to keep talking. She is my only Kuwait friend right now. This dating stuff is hard for me. How do you get to know someone! So many people I know have had their friends since they were in diapers, so they already know everything because they were there… okay I will stop before I go off in a totally different direction.

I just want Will and I to have a Deacon and Kelly. A Fred and Ethel Mertz. A Barney and Betty Rubble. I think I’m being way to weird about the whole thing, but I want a couple friend where I love the wife and Will likes her husband. Where I can leave the room knowing Will is fully comforable and is totally enjoying himself as he talks to the husband about football. I really want that, and I think it can be hard to find, especially over here, where the pool of people our age is pretty dry. Maybe I should ask her to lunch tomorrow or Saturday to see how the 4th date goes. I just don’t know. I hope she isn’t upset with me for giving her “the no.” I really didn’t mean it because I didn’t want to go with them, it was more of a not ready to take the plunge yet sort of thing… I’m probably making no sense, but I just had to sort thing out here. I would really like for Will and I to have a best couple friend eventually. I would like it sooner than later, but I guess you can’t rush things like that- which is what I’ve been obsessing about in this entire post! I have a million more things I would like to write, but this is very long and my sweet Will should be home very soon. I guess that is enough overanalyzing babble for today.

Hope you all had a great weekend! If you know of any great couples in my area, send them our way! ha ha (I’m sure you are all running in the other direction)