Texan in Kuwait

Today is Mr. TIK’s birthday. 

I love you, Baby, and I can’t wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays with you.  You make me better.

I’m not usually a big resolution person.  I usually set goals, but not just because it’s a new year.  However, because there are certain things I’m determined to change this year, I thought I’d write them down, publicly.  Maybe I’ll keep them if other people know I’ve made them.  Maybe.

1.  Organize myself.  In my house.  In my office.  In my head.  I am the most scatterbrained person I know and it drives me (and probably everyone around me) crazy.  I constantly have to ask, “Where’s my (fill in the blank)?”.  In the last week of 2007, I lost 1.  A $300 pair of glasses - that I need to, you know…read and shit.  2.  A $500 bracelet  3.  My badge for work.  It was not such a good week.  This year, I will make a place for everything, and put it there. 

2.  Become fully conversational in Arabic.  As someone who loves language, I am embarassed that not only have I lived in an Arabic speaking country for 1.5 years, I also have a husband who is a native speaker and I still cannot carry on a conversation.  The ‘problem’ here is that you don’t have to learn to get around.  All the signs are in both languages, and most people here have better English than I do Arabic, so it’s acutally work to learn.  I have CD’s and I’m learning more words and can can say some basics, but that’s it.  BASICS, and barely.  This time next year, I WILL be able to post in Arabic.  No excuses.  Mark my words.

3.  Take better control of my finances.  This is a slow process for me.  I’ve been a compulsive shopper, and have very much participated in retail therapy in the past.  I’m learning to appreciate the longer lasting satisfaction of seeing a bigger number in the account over the temporary, instant gratification I find in buying stuff.  Especially given the job situation and the fact that most of my income is tax free, there is no excuse not to save shit tons of money.  I have a number in mind for one year from now.  I will let you know how it goes. 

4.  Get on a better routine for school nights/mornings.  I’ve started this and the simple act of making lunches and setting out clothes for LTIK at night makes our morning sooooooo much smoother, which makes all of our lives easier.

5.  Make sure LTIK eats more veggies.  Self-explanatory, right?

6.  Cook more.  I don’t mind cooking.  Really I don’t.  I just need to stop and plan ahead a bit more and set things out to thaw, or throw something in the crockpot in the mornings.  Eating out here is outrageous.  The goal is not more than 2 dinners a week.  Cooking will lend itself to achieving number 3. 

7.  Get my CFA.  This will help when/if Mr. TIK and I decide to procreate. 

 Most of these aren’t huge things, but doing them will make huge differences.  2008 will be great.  I just know it.

LTIK made out like a fat rat this year.  The pics are below in approximate chronological order. 

New Christmas jammies

Ignore the dark circles under my eyes.  Santa was up late, k?

She had two requests for Santa:

1.  A piano, which Santa brought as much for Mom as anything.  Shhhh…

2.  A watch.  That one was all her.

Future photog among us.  Now she can leave my camera the hell alone.  I’ve got to upload some of the pics she’s taken.  Toooo funny.

And Mr. TIK bought her this.  She LOVES this thing.  It actually goes pretty fast and we laughed our butts off watching her haul ass around outside in theafternoon.

Christmas here lacks that certain ‘feel’ it has at home, but I have to say that getting to ride a 4 wheeler at the beach on Christmas day is kinda cool. 

Nothing better than a running start hug!!

Here’s a quick video I took of her while she was speed demoning it by me.

More video here.

We had a really nice time.  I don’t think I’ll ever like the holidays as much here as I did in the States, but we’re making our own traditions and I’m getting used to it.  Last year, I ended up in tears on Christmas because I was so homesick.  No tears this year.  I desperately miss my sister and her family, but she’s coming to see us in April and we’ll be there in the fall.  It’s getting easier, though I’m still surprised by just how much I miss her some days.

 I love you, Katie.  I miss you and your krew like crazy, and I can’t wait to see you and introduce you to the love of my life!!! 

 C’mon on April!!!!

May the new year bring you happiness, love, peace and hope!

Love,

From TIK, Mr. TIK and LTIK 

We had a great Thanksgiving, and I have the pics to prove it, but they will have to come later.  For now, I will have to leave you with these I took of the man and the girl playing ping pong in the gym at our place. It was so much fun.

We spent a few days in Bahrain not long ago and of course ended up at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

My kid has the camera bug.  She is constantly picking up mine and wanting to take pictures.  The week before last we were in Bahrain and she insisted on doing my hair and taking pictures.  She is hilarious.  She says things like, “Okay, Mom.  Now tilt your head and make a funny face.” “Smile like a big girl.” (Wonder where she hears THAT??)

I leave you with the photos as proof that she is following in her Aunt Katie’s footsteps.

I think the finger in the frame is a nice touch.

I bought me a cowboy hat. Yesiree, I sho did. Must keep that nasty, cancer causing sun off of my pasty whiteness.

Ah….life has been crazy busy.  The nanny situation is mostly worked out - alhamdulilallah.  LTIK is happy with it and I am too, mostly. 

I’m so excited for the holidays.  The hubby and I are hosting Thanksgiving this year (though it will be on Friday instead of Thursday since we have to work).  For some reason this Kuwaiti company doesn’t see fit to give us this American holiday off.  ;-)  It’s all good though, since there are 14 other days off we do get. 

What?  I didn’t tell you I have a husband???  That’s right, y’all.  TIK has tied the knot.  We got married in Cairo on 10.17.07 in a short private ceremony.  I don’t even want to hear the “I told you so’s” from anyone.  This no marriage girl finally met someone who could really change her mind.

It is blissful.  We’ve been together for a year and while I do understand that this is not an eternity, it’s been a year that has taken us through just about every imaginable up and down you can experience.  I’ve seen him lose two people very close to him.  I’ve lost one of my best friends.  I just had a cancer scare (all is well, thankfully).  We’ve both had job changes.  We moved in together.  We bought appliances.  We’ve had that wonderful butterflies-in-the-stomach thing going on.   He’s pissed me off (a time or two).  I’ve pissed him off.  We have gotten to travel together, alone and work on US, not just us with the rugrat.  He’s held me while I cried, listened to me rant, and talked me back down to reality.  I’ve watched him hurt.  I’ve seen him ecstatic.  We’ve had blah moments.

We are perfect for each other.  Not perfect people, but righter than anyone else for each other.  He makes me feel safe in every way imaginable.  He loves my girl like she’s his own.  My girl adores him.  His family is wonderfully accepting of me and my situation as a single mom.  I honestly couldn’t ask for anything better. 

Marriage is a funny thing.  I know that our surface level happiness will not last forever.  That we won’t always be so crazy in love.  But the thing I do know is that I love that man, easily as much as I feel ‘in love with’ him.  And I’m committed to fighting for us.  I don’t ever want to lose the desire to work at things.  As I said, this hasn’t been an easy year.  Not at all.  But we’ve gotten through it together.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I am and it honestly brings me to tears at times.  This time two years ago, I was in between jobs.  I had one lined up, but bureaucracy being what it is, I wouldn’t start until the beginning of December, and didn’t have a paycheck until the 23rd of that month.  I was behind on bills, depressed, gaining weight and feeling like a failure as a mom and person in general.  There’s only so much a girl can handle, ya know?

Now, I have the life I never thought I would.  I’ve said it a thousand times, but moving to Kuwait was the single best decision I have ever made for my life, future, and daughter.  I have a great job that pays well and doesn’t require working 70-80 hours a week or pulling late nights too often.  I’m not stressed out at all.  I’m blessed with the most amazing 3.5 year old on the planet, and have a the kind of man for a husband that I didn’t even know existed.

I am unspeakably grateful.

… so little time!

I’ve been a super craptastic blogger lately and I don’t see that changing any time soon. 

The past few weeks have left me:

1. Busy

2.  Without a nanny or suitable replacement in sight

3. Pissed off

4.  Ecstatic

5. Overwhelmed

6. Sick of my kid

7.  Crazy in love with my kid

8. Questioning a few things in my life

9.  Seriously wanting to beat the stupid twatwaffles who’ve set up interviews to be my nanny, agreed to be my nanny, or were my nanny and then flaked in the most ginormous of ways, leaving me completely up that proverbial shit creek with no paddle.

AND

10.  TIRED. AS. HELL.

I have also in the past two weeks:

1.  Forgotten (yes, totally, absolutely, completely forgotten) my niece’s birthday.  This really really makes me want to cry.  I’m Fun Aunt [TIK], Bob Dammit!! I don’t forget!! I might be slow getting a present in the mail, but I never forget to call.  I’m sorry, Taylor.  Really, I am.  And I love you!  Forgive me??

 2.  Found out my nephew will have to have surgery.  I will not expound upon why I have guilt over this here.  But I do.  And lots of it.

3.  Started painting.  Now, I’m no Picasso, not by a long shot, but I’m making stuff that perfectly coordinates with my house and it’s fun.  If I ever get a sec to breathe again, I might show you.

4.  Realized that in one month, I will have a one year anniversary.  This is big, folks.  Very big.  Especially for me. 

I love you, Baby!!

TIK out.  And I may not be back any time soon…

I’ve been a sucky blogger.  Just haven’t felt like writing much.  But thank you to everyone who emailed to check on us. We’re GREAT!  Really. 

The man and I spent the weekend in Bahrain and had such a good time.  I give you pics.

The view from our room

He is such a ham sometimes.

And now for sappiness.  My girl started KG-1 this morning.  Damn.  Time flies, eh?

Bye, Mom!!!

And then she was off.  Off to school.  Again. Without me.  Now, don’t get me wrong, she’s a happier camper when she’s in school and god knows, she NEEDS school and I was ready to choke her this summer, but still.  STILL

Not really in a writing mood, so I leave with you some pictures from a recent ‘fishing expedition’.  This means a walk down to the beach by our house and out on a pier w/ a $10 fishing pole and some homemade bait.

My kid is cracking me up these days.  I’ve taken the job and now I’m off for 9 whole days!!!  We’re having a blast hanging out and doing nothing.  Here I give you some gems from her over the past days.

*~ “Mom, you cannot call me [LTIK].  You have to call me Ms. Fairy Princess.”

*~ After informing her that one of her best friends is in America celebrating her birthday: “Did you know there are no cats in America?” (Thank you, American Tale)

*~ “My poop is green because I eat my gum.”

*~ “If you kiss [the man], you will get sick and have to go to the hospital.  It is so naughty.”

*~ “I fell on my cha-cha”

*~ “When I grow up, I will be a doctor.  Or a nanny.”  (Aim high, kid.)

*~ “My hands are melting.”

I’m sure there will be more, and I have some pictures.  But now I must keep her from trying to feed cherry pits to my philodendron.

 ~~~ Side note:  If you are an employer, and an employee turns in her notice, purely on the basis of bettering herself and her life, do not treat her like shit or she will not complete said notice and will also not give two shits for doing so.  Employee does not equal slave.  I’m just sayin.

…because my cup has overflowed.

This has been a year of ups and downs.  I’ve seen lots of loss, suffering, and pain, and at the same time have experienced financial and emotional freedom that I didn’t know was possible.

This last weekend was pretty rough.  But today is a good day.  Almost out of the blue and without really expecting or looking for it, I received an amazing job offer.  I honestly am having a difficult time taking it all in.  A former colleague passed along my resume, I interviewed last week and today I got the offer.

I’m about to pee my pants.  If I were still in highschool I would be jumping up and down screaming.  Hmmm…maybe I’ll go outside and do it anyway.  I don’t care if I’m almost 30!

I’m blessed.  So very blessed and so very thankful.

I leave you with some random pics from the weekend.  There’s a place called Friday Market here.  You can go buy lots of stuff super cheap — everything from pots and pans to live animals.  Let me preface the pics by saying that I’m not a fan of the live animal part.  It actually is pretty sad.  But here are the pictures anyway.

 Enjoy your Sunday, y’all!

 Peace!

When you live the expat life, you should expect certain things.

 One of those is that the people you become close to leave this place and move on to another (if they’re addicted to being an expat) or go home…wherever that might be.  Since I’ve been here, I’ve been relatively lucky, because the people I’ve watched leave, I really wanted to advise to not let the door hit them in the ass on the way out.

Unitl today.  Today, one of those people I actually care about is leaving and it’s a real bummer. 

We had a surprise going away party for her last night and it was a blast.  Then a few of us went to dinner with her tonight on her way to the airport.

Other random pictures

What could affectionately be called my Kuwait bitches.   It was hot last night.  And humid — very humid.  Yuck.  I’m really one of the shortest ones of the group, but apparently the only one who thought to stand straight up for the picture. ;-)  Another one of these girls is leaving in September.  You both suck.

We will miss you tons, C!!  I’m so gald we met and got to know each other.  Best of luck with whatever is next.  Enjoy your break and the much cooler, less humid weather.

Now I have another reason to visit Toronto, eh?.

More pictures here.

Cold cake makes everything better, no? 

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As a mother, one should know better than to say, “I never”, or “I don’t”.  Sure as shit after I post about how I don’t like Harry Potter, my 3-year old began to beg me to take her to see “Harry Potto”.  Don’t even try to tell her it’s PottER.  It’s Potto because that’s how Beena says it. 

 Also as a mother, there is nothing that will make your day like seeing your kid so incredibly excited about something that she’s actually giddy. 

“Mom, I’m so excited to see Harry Potto!  We’re going to have a great time.  Hehehehe!”  Actual ‘hehe’ laughs.  It was so worth the KD 7.5 we spent for the 3 of us, just to see her smile and get so excited.

So as for the movie itself?  Eh.  I’m not a fan, remember?  And the opening scene scared LTIK. But I told here they were just puppets.  Monster puppets, but puppets nonetheless.  Oh, and just so ya know….that breath that comes from their mouth is stinky because they don’t brush their teeth.  That’s why the boy was scared.

Evil?  Maybe, but now she brushes her teeth, goddammit.  She doesn’t want to be a monster puppet with stinky breath. 

We left early, but it was so worth her excitement.

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Helpful cleaning tip no. 1 from TIK:

If by chance you are painting a table with black paint, and you get said paint on your hands, arms, hair, legs and the inner part of your elbow, it is NOT, I repeat NOT, a good idea to attempt to remove this paint with a Magic Eraser.

While this might seem like a marvy idea at the time (because we all know they can take ANYTHING off of ANYTHING), and while it might work out okay for your hands, it is not a good thing to clean the inside of your elbow with.  In fact the skin on said elbow will suffer a mofo of a chemical burn and you will be unable to wash it and remove the paint for several days.  This will explain to others why there is still balck paint on your skin, 5 days after the fact.

 Seriously, peeps.  No magic erasers on your skin.

(Why, why, WHY did that seem like a good idea?!?!?!?!?)

I liked it, and that’s sayin something.

I know I shouldn’t.  I have a great nanny, but sometimes I just want to smack the shit out of her.

Last night, she took LTIK to the beach.  Whatever.  They spend the late afternoon there, and are usually playing there when I get home from work.  Nice break for both of them.

However, usually, my daughter does not carry home a dead fish.  A dead, possibly diseased fish.

WTH is that woman thinking??

Go wish my *little* sister a great big happy birthday!!

I love you, Katie!!

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you…maybe even get in on the ‘get Katie tipsy’ action with Angela!

 Have a blast at the concert, and enjoy your day!

You’re missed, sister!

Today I’m homesick.  Really homesick.

July 4 — America’s Independence Day. 

 I should be at the lake grilling dogs and burgers, drinking a beer, watching fireworks, and hanging out with friends and family.

I’m not a super patriotic American.  I don’t like Americana decorations.  I don’t own a flag and have nothing that says, “I LOVE THE USA”.   I hate our foreign policy.  I loathe our president and wish he would send our boys up north home.

But today, I’m thankful.  I’m blessed to be an American and to have grown up in the States.  If nothing else it makes travelling much easier when you have an American passport. ;-)  I’m fortunate to have been able to get a good education, free through highschool and on the cheap in college.  I’ve never been hungry for days or had to live in a hut with only a bowl of rice to eat for an entire day. 

I suppose it took leaving to really understand how good we have it at ‘home’.  I feel lucky in so many ways. 

I heard the song “Born in the USA” on the way to work this morning and I bawled.  I bawled because I miss my friends and family at home.  I bawled because I just want to drink a beer (and I don’t even like beer).  ;-)  I cried because for the past two years we haven’t celebrated at all.  Two years ago — the last time we were there for the holiday — we did this. It was the night before I went back to work for the first time after LTIK was born — a very bittersweet day.

I think I probably also cried for lots of other reasons, like Aunt Flo being on her way, and because I’m in a mild funk and because I’m tired of fighting with my bank over stupid shit.

Blah, blah, blah.

Happy birthday, America!!

Hope my TX peeps aren’t getting drowned!!

My family is pretty dysfunctional.  I know what you’re thinking…we ALL have dysfunctional families.  True, but I’ll take your dysfunction and raise you one.  Just trust me, mmmkkaaayy?

However, I have three completely awesome siblings, who amazingly do NOT contribute to the dysfunction.  One of those is LTIK’s Uncle Joe.  He’s 13 today.  He was adopted by my mom and stepdad when he was 4.5.  I’ll never forget the first time I saw that blond head of hair and those drop dead gorgeous blue eyes with mile long lashes.  He was and always has been such a sweet boy (that will probably embarass him, but it’s true).

Our sister (who just turned 14 — gulp!) had serious medical problems as a baby and toddler.  In fact some of them lasted until she was 6.  Joe just has always had such a good sense of being gentle to her.  Of taking care of her. Of being that protective big brother.  Don’t get me wrong.  I know they fuss and fight with each other like all good siblings do, but he’s truly a special guy.

I love you, Joe.  I’m so sorry that things can’t be different in our family and that I could see you more.  I’m missing so much of your life.  I hope you always know how much I love you and think about you. 

You are an amazing young man, in spite of the role model you have in your life and I am so proud of you for that.  Keep your chin up.  Continue to use that brain of yours to come up with cool stuff.  Stay focused.  Remember that we love you even though we don’t get to see you.

 I miss you, little brother.

P.S. These pictures were shamelessly stolen from Katie Cassidy Photography. Go check her out.