What's Been Up

I’ve been slacking lately, Readers. I know. Things have been so uneventful that I really don’t have much to write about, but The Consultant told me today that I had to write something because it’s been soooo loooong. Truthfully, I worry that if I’m not writing about drama, I’ll no longer appeal to my readers, so I fiddle around with a few posts at a time and end up trashing them in the end, and ya’ll get pictures. I have to quit that, right?

The new year has been good to me so far! If I’m being honest I should tell you that the week before the new year was quite shitty and filled with annoyances and irritations. We had to stay at my mother in law’s house for several days to keep an eye on her maid. It was nice to sit on my rear all day, but it was not nice to have The Mr. in my face 24 hours a day. It made me realize that the only way I’ve stayed sane living in the same house with him is because he’s rarely actually IN the house with me. Four days of non stop cohabitation and I was thinking of creative homicide solutions once again. I decided (with help from DC’s regular motivational Facebook wall postings) that I’m not taking the garbage from last year into the new year, so I went to bed at 1030pm on New Years Eve (a little irritated that The Consultant didn’t come through on the virtual hang-out as promised) and vowed to start fresh the next day/year. I’m happy to report that things have been going well thus far. I’m back in my house, he’s back to hanging out at his mother’s for the majority of the day, and all is well in the world.

This past week I’ve continued with my get a life initiative. I finally visited my friend B who finally convinced that adorable little baby she’d made a nice home for to make an appearance in the world.  She’s by far the most chilled out baby I’ve ever met, not to mention soft and squishy and sweet.  B is my role model for becoming a more relaxed mom.  She was born to do this!  She’ll probably read this and wonder what I’m talking about with  the relaxed bit, but watching her handle 4 children with what seems like ease makes me wonder why I still can’t get it together with one at times.  While we visited I also got the chance to take the new baby’s first official photographs.  I was reminded how much I miss my old job as a portrait photographer, but also how out of practice I am!  Note to self to find more babies to practice on!

The housewives and I got together for a dinner this week as well!  Most restaurants here have two entrances–one for singles (men) and one for families.  The family sections of most restaurants here in Riyadh are typically closed off with curtains or panels or doors, allowing for extra privacy for women to unveil and eat, or to allow you to shamelessly grope your boyfriend/girlfriend without allowing the family dining next to you to have any clue about what’s going on.  It happens.

Anyhow, I’m always jealous of the people (aka, men) who get to eat in the “singles” section.  They get to have open views of the restaurant, they don’t have to hide away, the ambiance of eating out isn’t taken away.  To my surprise, the restaurant we met up at on Thursday was an apparent diamond in the rough.  The seating was open and it was decorated to look and feel like you are dining in the courtyard of an Italian cafe.  You know the scene in Eat Pray Love where Liz is having lunch with her friends in Rome and she orders the entire meal in Italian?  The camera looks down from above and you can see the courtyard and surrounding tables and trees.  It was like that, except that our waiters were friendly Indian and Filipino gentlemen, and I ordered in my very best English.  The food was great, the gelato was amazing, and as always, nothing beats a night out with friends…especially here.

My daughter has finally finished up her exams for this term, so she’s been spending most of her time at home, trying to think of new and exciting ways to turn my hair prematurely grey.  She’s perfected her 7 going on 17 attitude and mouthiness, she’s non stop jabbering away about “gang-man” style, she’s trying to become the world’s best jump roper, and she’s figured out how to climb the stairs on the outside of the stair railings.

To top all of that off, yesterday, in an attempt to become more independent (which she probably picked up from me giving her more responsibilities around the house), she sliced her thumb open while trying to cut herself an apple.  Which sent me running down my death trap stairs.  Which I made more efficient by going halfway down on my knees/elbows/face.  I have a great collection of bruises now, along with three more weeks of school vacation and zero dollars to buy plant tickets for vacation or other forms of entertainment, so I’m going to need to put my thinking cap on and figure out a way to ensure that we both survive this break from school.

So, that’s what 2013 has been like for me so far.  Exciting, but in a much different way than last year for sure.  I hope the new year is treating you all wonderfully as well.  I have some posts in the works and will tryyyy not to trash them and to not be such a slacker in the coming weeks, I promise!

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