Crazy Islander on the loose :)

Some Stewie

"Stewie: You know, I rather like this God fellow. Very theatrical, you know. Pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence ... gotta get me some of that."

I think someone's getting broody :)

Last week when Mega, Alex and Tau were here, I took Tau into our bedroom to say good morning to Rich.  We were just lying there the three of us, Tau's being all cute and giggling when Rich looks over at me and says "We've got to get ourselves one of these"...I'm pretty sure he was talking about Tau :)

I'm back and up to no good :-)

                                            I just spent  the last 15-20 mins purposely playing the guitar out of tune, bashing away loud enough to wake a coma patient just a few short feet away from Rich pretending I couldn't see his frowning and grimacing as the poor guitar twanged horribly.

Then I surreptitiously turned off the air condition after he had turned it on complaining he was hot.

To finish it all off I started whistling, because it's one of his pet peeves...apparently I sound like a cross between a steam train and a cat being strangled...nice.  Thanks Rich.

I'm so bored.  I'm restless.  I guess this is what happens when after 6 weeks of visitors the apartment is suddenly emptied and I’m left on my own to my own devices...which is a dangerous thing.

It’s like right now, I’m actually physically talking myself out of going into the living room, which just so happens to be where Rich is and striking up a conversation.  He’s doing some super geeky thing on his laptop which means that interruptions are absolutely forbidden.  Not so much as a peep out of me...so of course that’s exactly what the little devil on my shoulder is whispering feverishly in my ear to do.  Oh, the temptation *sigh*

I'm in that aimless mood where mischief reigns and the naughty pleasure far outweighs the repercussions.  Before I wrote this paragraph I got into the lift, went down to floor 13 and proceeded to press the lift call button causing it to stop on it's way up and down, whilst I hid around the corner.  Now I know why those damn kids on the 18th and 21st floor do it...It's SO MUCH FUN :)  although admittedly those are the same kids I curse everyday I'm in a hurry and the lift stops to no one hopping in and quiet giggles from the hallway.  I have no idea why all this makes me laugh inside and rub my hands in glee!!

Anyway I'm back in the apartment now having filled my inner 8 year old self's unfulfilled naughty quota, I can probably rest easy tonight.  I really hope I'm not as ratty tomorrow or have the urge to wind people up and be a sarcastic drama queen...because boy do I do a great job of that as well.  Can you say Oscar Nomination?!

Ooh, and don't go lying now.  I just know that you guys do this too.  Let's see a show of hands...

Oh, for flip's sake!!

How many of you have done this before, spent a good hr or so typing away doing a massive update post for your blog and then for some reason unknown to man, without rhyme or reason Internet explorer crashes and that auto-save feature on your Blog?  Decides on this one occasion to NOT work, leaving you speechless.  Not because there are no words but because anything you would say would sound like nails being dragged down a blackboard over and over again.

I'm so cheesed off right now.  I don't know about you guys but when I've not updated in a while (weeks) because I've been so rushed off my feet, it's like I get writers block (not that I am claiming to be a writer but you know what I mean aye?).  There's just so much information. Too many stories to tell.  And all the emotions you went through during these times, well they aren't as fresh or as tantalising as when it was all just freshly made. Sort of like day old proper coffee made from beans.  It tastes amazing freshly brewed but have a cup too many hours down the line and it's lost that..."taste" (or so i am told)

It was so hard trying to recapture the last 3 weeks and now it's just gone...stupid windows crappy software....ARGHHHH!  I think I better go to bed before I seriously go through with chucking my laptop over the balcony and waiting to hear the satisfactory "smash" as it makes impact 40 stories below.  And I wouldn't even feel any sympathy for the damn thing, even if it whimpered in fear and apologised profusely for the crap it just pulled.  Heartless, that's what I'll be.  Stupid technology!!

I will be back.  When I've had some sleep and no longer lust after my laptops blood!!

On the 12th day of March

I decided to sit down and write a love letter to my blog and fellow bloggers because I have really missed it and you all!  Then I re read it and realised how sappy, corny and slightly disturbing it was and went right ahead and pressed the delete button :)

I hadn't noticed before just how much I love sharing the various aspects of my loony self, but now as my busy time subsides, the visitors slowly leave - I can actually grab a quick moment to say HI!  How are you guys and what's new?  And realise how excited to be back to sharing I am!!  I'm so frustrated that I am a week and a bit behind all of your lives and your updates and the fact that I haven't terrorised your blogs with my comments dotted with a heart :)

There's so much to tell, or there was because you know when things happen and you think to yourself that you MUST remember it to blog about?  I have had so many of those incidences the last 14 days and I can't for the life of me recall any of it...frustrating huh?

I know that my cousin had a beautiful baby boy but I haven't managed to check his aunts blog for details...I know the last time I checked I was STILL waiting for an update from Kuaback girl (*AHEM*) since her 25 meme lol, Jandel print was warding off beautiful snowflakes and giving up facebook for Lent, Coffee house banter was missing out on a lakers game and the list just goes on...so peeps, how far behind have I fallen? 

And now because it's 10.24am and I am running late - I have to say adios and fly off to the hospital to bring my cousin home which is another story that I need to tell you all about when I manage to snatch some time in between the madness and the loopy happiness that I am surrounded by.  Call me crazy but I just love this chaos!  From now till Monday I'll be Nurse Netia and for you kinky little nutters, no, I won't be wearing a uniform ;)

 

Photo Friday

Standing in the "carpark" (undeveloped sand lot) outside of Rich's Work building in the desert, far from Dubai's glitzy landscape.

Give up facebook?

Did anyone actually believe me about the whole giving up Facebook for Lent?  Nah, I didn't think so.

Hi everyone, My name's Netia and I'm a Facebook-a-holic (not a wineaholic like Jemina thinks, because I DON'T like the stuff, it's the poison that hangovers are made from!!).  I can just see Jemina's face looking at me sternly and saying "Auntie Netiiiiaaaa, you didn't even TRY" lol 

You know, half of me loves facebook.  Loves the concept, the ideology, what it represents, the absurd amount of little applications, the annoyingmemes, all the unnecessary but vital status updates but the other half HATES it for some of those exact reasons, because I am a wee bit addicted to it and more.  I find myself logging on in the morning to find out who has done the most inane thing since I last checked, erm, let's see, 7 hours earlier just before my head hit the pillow.  Reading down the comments if someone wrote more than a "Hi, how are you?"  (which personally drives me nuts, because really,  How are you?  There are so many more things you could ask like - does the colour of knickers you wear affect your mood?  Or maybe, have you tried picking up jelly beans using your nostrils by breathing in deeply?)

I would go into more detail about my feelings on the subject, but I'm playing on-line scrabble and for the FIRST time ever I'm leading a little, and that, in Netia's world is like GOLD DUST.  As in RARE and may never happen EVER again.  Oh and has anyone else noticed I am Loving Capital letters recently in all my posts?  The psychotic in me wants to analyse why that is, but the competitive me doesn't have time and wants to win annihilate win conquer win.  I think I shall be back to ponder all the nonsense in this post at a later date...that is, if I win.  If I lose, alas, I will have lost the will to live.

Add Drama Queen to that mix of Psychotic and Competitive and what a dynamite cocktail!

Lent

   

Phone conversation this morning with Jemina, my little 7 yr old drama queen extraordinaire.

" So auntie Netia, did you eat pancakes last night?"

"No, should I have done?"

"..Oh duh, auntie, it was pancake day!!! (like who doesn't know that!)"

"are you giving up anything for Lent?"

*me munching away on a mars bar*

"yeah sure honey, I gave up some stuff for...[Interrupted by Jemina]

"Well, I'm giving up television.  and crisps and, oh and CHOCOLATE"

"Oh wow Mina, that's a lot to give up.  I may give up the same as you.  How long do you think you will do it for, the whole time?"

Mina ignoring my question.."So what ARE YOU giving up auntie Netiaaaaa?"

*still munching on Chocolate*

"Oh, I'll definitely give up chocolate (scoff, scoff, chew) and ummm...I'll give up....[again interrupted by Jemina]"

"Well Auntie, I know what you should give up"

"and what's that Meens?"

"You should give up wine"

*stop chewing* "What?  Why wine?  Hold on a minute, did mummy tell you to say that?"

"OF COURSE NOT auntie Netia, I thought of it all by myself.  And you know what?  You need to give it up for 40 DAYS and NIGHTS"

SILENCE

"...That's a long time for you."

"Well I will make sure to tell all my friends so they can give up stuff too"

"...hmmm...Well, just don't forget to tell Uncle Richard so he can too okay?"

Anyone listening to that conversation could be forgiven if they came away thinking that I was a)stupid and b) a wine-o-holic.

I completely forgot about Lent, probably because I've not been to Church here (which I really really must make an effort to change!)  I'm now trying to think of something I can give up that I haven't already eaten, said or done today :)  I'm toying with the idea of Facebook, not been on yet today (shock horror!)  actually that would be worth it, seeing as I am absolutely addicted.  So here are my two things:

Gluttony:  Crisps

Addiction:  Facebook

Anyone else giving up anything?

A room with a view ;)

Left hand side view from our balcony, 40 storeys up 

 

View smack in front (see the desert carparks?)

   

Such a common sight in the UAE - Cranes!  Construction, Dust.  The manic building has slowed down as even UAE experiences it's share of the Global Financial Crisis.

Jing

I've been thinking long and hard about whether I should blog about certain aspects of my personality  and lifestyle, for the mere fact that it makes me look, um, a little bit on the strange side - even though you and I BOTH know, that I am if not THE sanest then one of the sanest people you know.  So, safe in this knowledge, I'm going to blog a little bit  about my terribly hard life.  

Jing is a Filipino Maid who does allhelps me out with my housework because I suffer from Asthma and can't do any dusting and hoovering and the likes.  I do have a husband as you may have noticed from previous posts but he suffers from an illness called being a man (I do apologise if you're of the male gender and quite enjoy spending hours cleaning).  Rich is very sympathetic to my plight because as well as being Asthmatic, I also suffer from an ongoing case of what some may see as desperate housewife analexia.  My younger sister next in line to me, likes to call me Bree from Desperate Housewives, not because I look like her (I can only dream) but because of the way I insist things be done in  particular way, particular order and to perfection.  Not at all like Bree then, huh?

Now, Jing, lovely as she is, is still no Jubilyn.  Jubilyn was our House Maid in Dubai but she doesn't work in the Sharjah area (where we now live) and she was fantastic.  She and I had a shared understanding on how things needed to be done in the house.  Clean, efficient and clutter free ALWAYS.  It took us time to adjust to one another and to how we liked things being done which generally meant that as long as she had the house exactly how I liked it, then we were friends.  In order for this to happen, I had to leave the house on the days she worked to avoid witnessing scenes that would lead me to stop breathing, such that steam would swirl angrily out my ears, surround my red face, bulging eyes and cause me to combust.  Examples of actions that would cause such damage to my health would be if Jubi chose to use Jiff cleanser over Dettol or if there was anything on the coffee table other than the mandatory 1-3 magazines (all dated the current month), 3 remote controls and a box of tissues. 

To avoid regular incidences of me rocking myself gently on the floor, looking absentmindedly into space and trying to find my happy place, I would leave the house and let Jubi produce the results I demanded asked for without bearing witness to her methods.  This allowed me to believe that Jubi was cleaning, dusting and even placing the the sugar bowl exactly as I outlined on the several sheets of A4 paper that I stuck up on the wall in the laundry room. 

But sadly, Jubi is no more and I am on to Jubi's 4 replacement in 4 months.  Her name is Jing and she's actually quite a nice person and a hard worker.

Obviously it was always going to be difficult finding someone to fit into the size perfect boots that Jubi left behind and although Jing is by far the best Maid since, it's not going as well as I had hoped.

Like for instance, today.  I searched high and low for the Omelette pan (thank you again Mati & Toni).  It wasn't in the Pots and Pan cupboard but in the cupboard with the serving dishes.

She put the seperate inner part of the rice cooker in the cupboard with the glasses.

She puts R's shavers in the toothbrush/toothpaste holder.

She calls at 5.55 am because she can't remember if she's supposed to be coming in at 10 that morning...could she not have waited till 7.30????

Lying the rug upside down and to one side of the hall instead of in the middle.

Recently, randomly placing books on the bookshelf instead of in it's alphabetical order.  Having Forrester sandwiched between the Q's and R's could have serious implications on a books identity!!

And just because it cheesed me off so much, leaving shoes in the hallway when they live in the cupboards, all of them even flip flops.  And not grouping them either...like sandels together, trainers and outdoor walking shoes, smart kitten heels, mid high heels, wedges. Arghhhhhhh.

*sigh*

[draws legs up to chest and starts to rock gently, chanting "candy floss, dymo label machine, rainbows, Shoe Holders, draw partitions"] 

Photo Friday

Last week I was too ill to think about my weekly feature so I’m going to make up for it.

We just had SIL and her twins over for a visit so they’ll be my feature for this week :)

 

Chinese Lantern Week at Al Qasba

 

Me and my twinnies Sammy & Em

Em, Sam and Caroline at home.

 

Em & Sam

 

My Paparazzi shot

 

Gorgeous Caroline

 

Teaching my kids the basics heh heh

 

LOL - Water babies!

 

Too Cute!

 

Bye!!  Missing you guys :(

Some Stewie :)

Stewie (reading the Bible)" My my, what a thumping good read, lions eating Christians, people nailing each other to two by fours. I'll say, you won't find that in Winnie the Pooh.

Meds & Visitors have arrived

I'm on the mend, yippee!  That's the good news.

The bad news is, Rich wants me incarcerated because apparently I'm a bad patient.  He's been threatening to tell my mum and his mum that I'm ill because "They are the only ones who YOU'LL listen to...blah blah blah"

Now that's not exactly true.  I listen to Rich, really I do.  Especially when I'm ill, because in the past I have ended up in hospital breathing through oxygen masks, hooked up on IV and all that stuff, which really, looks worse than it is, ask the Doctors.  The last thing he needs when he's away for work and probably a minimum 7 hr flight, is to hear that I've been admitted into hospital.  The other reason is because, boy can he nag about it. 

Admittedly, I am a very bad patient.  I give myself maybe 3 hours from diagnosis to get better and then I try and act like everything is normal and in the case of this current illness, like I'm not needing to stop every now and then to catch my breath, suck up some phlegm and spit it out all the while keeping a happy smile on my face and shaking my head as if to say "No!  Of course my chest is fine, what?  Pain when I breathe?  Of course it doesn't hurt to be alive you silly goose, you!" 

This time I have been listening mainly because I'm in quite a lot of pain and because the SIL is here and she's been keeping an eye on me.  When I get all excited about playing Mario Karts on the Wii with the kids, she reminds me that I may need to have a rest for a couple of hours, and no, not in a minute - RIGHT NOW :)  She's great lol.

Oh, and Rich is suffering now from a cold like sickness.  He claims he caught it from me, but that is SO not true.  The way I see it, I think he's just putting it on.  He wants people feeling sorry for him and sending him get well soon wishes and virtual chicken soup, hugs and advice like drink lots of fluids.  Yep, I'd go so far as to say he's just so jealous of all the attention I'm getting and wants to be special...meh, I keep telling him that you can't force this type of relationship with people, am I right or am I right?  :)

Anyway, with the family here now, I'm not going to have much time to blog.  These kids have the energy of everlasting batteries.  Although it's energy only for things they want to do.  They do crack me up.  One minute they're whining whilst we're walking in the mall window shopping, saying things like, I'm soooooo tired, asking if we can go now or can we sit down or I want to go home.  But the minute they see adventure-land, all of a sudden like magic, their tiredness disappears and sore feet, what sore feet? LOL  Bloody kids aye, what you gonna do with them?!

2 for 1

Apparently down at the sick-r-us store they have a special sale going on.

Get one arse whooping of Bronchitis and you get a sinus virus ABSOLUTELY FREE all for the low low price of your sanity.

I'd do a happy dance for you seeing as I'm sure we all like getting free stuff, but stabbing my arm is less painful than moving.  Ooh and you should so hear the special sound effects that comes with the free gift, sort of like a very very old dog on it's last legs with a large fur ball stuck in the back of it's throat constantly trying to cough it up....hmmmm, yummy!

Oh and the man at the check out (dressed up as a Doctor) said that with these 2 for 1 specials, lots of rest, liquids and stress free (unless I want a visit from the makers of amazing asthma) time is required.  I'm looking at that list and it's like..whaaaa?  Me no understand English.

Wish this came with a warrant and money back guarantee, because if it did, it would soooo be back on the shelf right now!!

Some Stewie :)

(Lois finds a note in Chris's pocket)
Lois: Huh, what's this? You know Stewie, Mommy doesn't usually read things out of Chris's pocket. She's more respectful than that.
Stewie: Whatever helps you sleep at night, bitch.