Truly Outrageous

I have an announcement.
*clearing throat*
Today, the 14th of October, 2010 the temperature in Bahrain was 89F.
Oh, and humidity was only 48%.
It has been hovering between 98F & 105F for the last few weeks and 65-85% humidity. Before that, well, it was just hellish. There is not better description. You know when you open the dishwasher & stick your face in too soon? Glasses fog up. And you know when you open the oven & your face is too close? You feel blasted & your eyelashes may stick together a bit b/c your mascara melted? Combine those experiences & you know what it's like to walk outside when the heat index is 135F and humidity is at +80%.

For the first time in almost 8 weeks, I felt a cool breeze.
For the first time in 8 weeks, I *wanted* to be outside.
For the first time in 8 weeks, the air conditioning felt too cold.**
This afternoon, Grant said,
"Hey Mommy, It's not hot or cold, it's just (gesturing with open arms) this."
Yes, for the first time in 8 weeks,
I did not feel weighted down by just stepping outside.
It feels good.
It feels like freedom!

**speaking of being too cold: ironically, yesterday we had the power out from 4am to 10am & a busted central a/c. we camped out in our bedrooms by the wall units & made quick, furtive forays to get food from the kitchen. the a/c's compressor was shot. they fixed the central AC on this day, the day i turned it off. Oh, and 4 hours before this whole mess began, Spencer left on TDY for the rest of the month. Hoo-rah.

Oh, and don't forget, tomorrow is the Weekly State Department Roundup. I've only had two submissions so far. There's still time!

YouTube Tuesday: Juvenile

I stumbled upon this gem just a few days ago, through a friend of a friend. (of a friend) I just love the Old Spice commercials. And the spoofs that have spawned.

Here's the Grover version:


Here's the BYU version:


And the good ol' original:

Yee-haw!

*image from zazzle.com

I am swimming in new waters, people. I decided to be "social" online and am hosting the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup which will take place HERE on Friday, Oct. 15th.

Here's the deets. There is an optional theme that you may write on, if you so choose. I think I get to choose, so my 'theme' is:

Traditions: What traditions have arisen in your life because of the State Dept?

Do you always hit the beach on Valentines day? (depending on your locale, some people can) Or do the kids get new outfits for air travel on R&R? Something that is completely normal for you now, but wasn't before the State Dept.

Another 'for example', my two middle children had just gotten back from a grocery run with Daddy. He had gotten them each their own bottle of flavored sparkling water. My 8 yo, Mairyn, exclaimed, "I love this stuff! I'm going to save some of it so I can take it on the airplane with me!" Then my 6 yo, Grant, volleyed back, "No! No you can't, Mairyn! No liquids on the plane! The security mens says so!" True, so true, my young padowan.

So get thinking! I already have mine prepared. (in my head) That's the advantage to hosting the Roundup. If you want to host, go here. A Daring Adventure is quite the lady; she has the calendar for hosting. For examples of previous Roundups, go here. My good friend, Connie, at Whale Ears and other Wonderings, hosted last week.

*If there is any cloudiness to my explanation, please let me know & I'll explain better*

You can email me the blog post you want included in this Friday's Roundup or leave the link in the comments for this post.
--> lydia (dot) penrod @ gmail (dot) com.

Ten, diez, yol, ashara

This idea isn't really well formed. It's more out of a weird feeling of obligation that I post today. It's 10-10-10. I feel like I should have some clever thingy to do or make. I mean, it's 10-10-10. I know that a lot of people are probably getting married. I mean, a friend or two did it on 9-9-09.

I could think of a top ten list. Or ten things I want. I know that a ten sided figure is called a 'decahedron'. I like the twelve sided figure's name better; dodecahedron. It's just fun to say. Dodecahedron.

That's a decahedron.

I found a book on Amazon called '10-10-10'. Something about life-transforming ideas. I wonder how many people started reading it today at 10:10 am/pm. Apparently The Savoy in London had the same idea. Not to read the book, but to reopen today at 10:10am on 10-10-10.

Ah, and digging a little further, 10.10.10 global is cutting carbon 10% at a time this Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010 'A Global Day of Doing'. It will be the ' . . largest day of positive action on climate change ever.' Did you hear that? Ever! I think I celebrated by doing 5 loads of laundry and keeping my A/C on all day. Seeing as how the heat index was 106F today, it was just an act of preservation.

There's also a boy that turned 10 at 10:10 am today. I remember there was a kid in my school that had a sibling born on 8-8-88. He stretched it so far as to say he was born at 8pm, but I have to doubt that part.

What was I doing 10 years ago? I had a 10 month old baby girl and uh, we were dirt poor living in married student housing at the university. 10 years before that? Uh, I'd rather not reveal my age.

Well, that's only 6 or so factoids and/or random info on 10-10-10. I'd like to lose 10 pounds! There, that's another, 7. And something completely unrelated to the number 10, I'd like to share a clip from my favorite show on earth, The Soup, since I didn't share a clip last week for YouTube Tuesday. Enjoy!

Halloween Time

You can tell it is definitely Halloween time when the JibJab themed videos are out. Word.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Potato Love

Found this in the produce section . . .

Then I saw this down another aisle . . .

Is this Idaho's way of saying it misses me?

You say tomato . . . I say 'Cherry or Roma'?

As an initial observation of Bahrain, most everyone speaks English. Because not everyone speaks Arabic. There's the Middle Eastern contingent that speaks the native tongue. But then there's the imported people; Phillipinos, Indians, etc. People speak Hindu, Nepalese, Tagalog, and a variety of other dialects. That makes it kind of hard to speak to someone in their 'native language'. So English is the go-to mode of communication and whaddaya know, that's my first language. Pretty convenient for me, no?

I have also noticed that since English is widely understood, many more commercials & advertisements are in English. And because of this, there are definitely not as many mistakes on signs or billboards. But some still slip through. Like this one I found in the paper.

Is 'discomfortable' a word? I don't think so. (I checked merriam webster) Thomas, you're wrong! There were many phrases to keep me entertained in Egypt. Like putting 'saloon' instead of 'salon'. I wonder what they put in their hair coloring treatment? I think the biggest difference is that they use British English expressions, so some things sound 'almost right'.


'To Let'; forgive me, every time I see this, the juvenile 13 year old boy in me wants to put an ' i ' right between those two words. 'For Rent' would seem more natural to me, but that's just me. There is also another sign around here that I *have* to get a picture of. It precedes all the speed bumps. It says, "Humps Ahead". Just wait, I'll get it.