Eye, Eye, Eye

My eyes, indeed.

The Dr. said there was a reason people don't walk into their office and request PRK laser surgery. It hurts. Big time.

The first three days are the worst and he was right. I never thought I would feel the exact orb of my eyeball burning with stabbing delight.

Yesterday was day 4 and there was amazing improvement. The world still looks blurry, like it's been smeared with vaseline, but at least I don't want to rip my eyeballs out of my head.

Today I go in to have the contact "bandages" taken off by the optometrist. I'm hoping the smeary-ness will be lessened & I can see some real improvement. Though when my vision was tested at the one day mark, I was at 20/40. Quite an improvement from 20/400.

It's still frustrating staring out at the world through a blur. And no heavy reading. Sheesh! What else am I supposed to do? I also have a DVD of the procedure. Spence said it's really cool, but I don't know if I'll ever bring myself to watch it.

Why don't they make Cliff Notes for Bahrain?

I was pretty prepared to go to Jordan. I had physically been there. I have a friend there, getting me insiders deets. I was set.

Then they pull the rug out from under me and are sending us packing to Bahrain in August. Great. A whole new country. Whoop-de-freakin'-do. Manama, Bahrain. Where is that?



See that little dot right in the center? Yep. That's Bahrain. The 34 mile long, 11 mile wide clump of sand in the Persian Gulf. It also claims the unique honor of being the ONLY island nation in the Persian Gulf & wider Middle East.

I've been giving myself these little reminders. Just to prepare myself. Whenever I check the current southeast Idaho weather, I check Bahrain's.
Idaho:
Monday

68° F | 40° F

Bahrain:

Monday
86° F | 73° F

It's especially fun when I check the weather at 11 o'clock at night and Bahrain's temp is 81F. Fun without the sun! If by fun you mean heat. *sweating*

But I'm not bothered. The housing book says that all houses are equipped with central air.

Alhamdula' freakin' llah!

P.S.
I think my kids have turned into wimps here in Idaho. It was almost 70F on Saturday, so I sent them outside. They all dragged themselves back inside, complaining that they were 'too hot'. Oh baby, are they in for a shock!!

Being sincerely compassionate

I had the idea for this post a few months ago. But, like many other things in my life, it takes me this long to even sit down and think about it.

This year, I have been an Iraq widow. My husband, away earning dough in Baghdad, started this whole 'experience' mid-July 2009. Since families are not allowed (nor would I want) to go with, we moved to Rexburg, Idaho. Why? We already owned a house & my in-laws live there. Going from Cairo, Egypt to Rexburg is quite the culture shock. Or should I say, religion shock. I haven't lived around this many Mormons since I was at BYU. A frequent exclamation from my kids was, "Hey Mommy! She goes to our church, too!!" Yes, honey, as does 98% of this town. At least it's a familiar environment, compared to an almost 100% Muslim country.

Being a pseudo-single mom in a mostly Mormon community has not been easy. I just don't think they know what to do with me. Husbands don't want to get caught in the hallway alone around me and the wives, I don't know, maybe don't feel like we have anything in common. If communication could be accomplished, it usually started with,

"Yeah, you're the family that's lived all over the world."

"Uh, nice to meet you too. Seems you know all about me. What's your name?"

I understand that there is an 'exotic' taste to my life. But instead of asking other people, you could just talk to me.

I have tried to reach out; inviting people over for dinner, taking walks through the neighborhood and saying "Hi" to anyone that's out in their yard. Once winter hit, boy, everyone is holed up, including ourselves. But unless you were friends before the flakes started flying, you sure as heck weren't meeting anyone new!

Snow = need to shovel the driveway. We were gone during Thanksgiving for the first snowstorm and when we returned, my driveway was shoveled. Aww, how nice! Thing mostly melted the week before Christmas and then, Christmas Eve, we got our wish of a white Christmas. So, shoveling needed to happen again. I went to Walmart (bless that store), bought a shovel and began digging my way out. My neighbor pulled up & said,

"You know, Sister Penrod, myself & a couple other neighbors are keeping an eye on your driveway. You don't need to get out there and do that!"

Aww, how nice! I finished up the job; because I really don't mind. Seriously, after sweeping up sand for 4 years, I like me some snow! The next snowstorm, I had sick kids, but didn't worry about the drifts because they said I'd be taken care of. Four days passed, still not a shovel in sight. On the evening of the fifth day after the storm, I hear the motor of a snow blower in my driveway. Ok, thanks. But after pulling in and out of the garage twice a day for 5 days, there was some compacting of snow. You know, the grooves of solid ice that mark where you've driven over the snow. And, a snow blower, as fast as it may be, doesn't really do the full job. But hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?

I wanted to just be grateful for what I had. But it was really hard driving past the service givers houses that didn't have those annoying ice grooves and a shoveled walk. (they omitted my stairs & walkway. a snow blower 'doesn't do' stairs.) If you guys like having a shoveled walkway and don't like having twin lumps in the driveway, do you think I like it? I hated feeling like this! I would give myself a time out and push that little sassy, ungrateful monster back down and count my blessings.

Mid-January brought more snow. On top of the snow from previous dumpings, it was quite an impressive amount. And in the deep of winter here in the 'Burg, snow usually doesn't melt between storms. This time, a week and a half after snowfall, and still no sight of any do-gooder. I felt stupid sitting inside, like a princess being waited on. I got sick of looking at everyone else's cleared driveways. I got out my shovel and did it myself. Just as I was finishing up my piece d'resistance, my same neighbor is pulling into his (clean) driveway and gets out to scold me,

"Now, Sister Penrod, I said we were handling your snow this winter! Don't do this again!"

Huh? Now I'm just flabbergasted. I make a concession and hold back the tide of flaming comments that could have been fired upon this lame-o. This pattern continued through out the winter. Snow, Wait, no clean driveway, do it myself. Except I never heard from The Neighbor again.

The Conclusion:
Give service willingly without any thought of recompense. But don't make people on the receiving end feel like beggars. Give service as thoughtfully and completely as you would want it. And don't move to Rexburg. Too much snow.

For more service-oriented posts, ideas & projects, go to The Service Soapbox for more inspiration, reality or good times!

I'm a wascal

Tonight was a big dinner and silent auction at our school. There were many lovelies to bid on; photography sittings, scrapbooking supplies, books, guitars, and much more. There was also a live auction after the silent auction closed. I had decided beforehand what I would bid on. And one thing that was a definite "no" was the adorable rabbit. The kids spotted it's cage before the dinner and were sticking their fingers in, trying to stroke the dense fur.

"Please, please, please can we get the bunny?" they begged.

I said no way, no how, but that I'd keep my eyes out for something. Anyway, I was outbid on a couple of items in the silent auction, but I still only had eyes for the magnificent Fender classical guitar with hard body case. Oh baby! Well, my good friend & I got into a bidding war over the guitar and I let her win. I wasn't even considering the rabbit, until a couple at my table said that this breed make excellent pets. They don't need to be walked (like any rabbit does), are very gentle and love attention. And, they added, if we couldn't find anyone to take the rabbit, when we move in August, they said they'd be happy to take her! So, I bid on Raison d'Etre (Reason to Be) and whaddaya know, I won! She's all ours for $35. Whoopee!

We are searching for just the right name for our queen of a bunny. She is a pedigreed rabbit and apparently rare & on the ALBC's 'critically endangered' list. She is a Silver Fox rabbit, bred for their fur and meat. Blugh, don't even make me think about eating this precious bunny. (though I have eaten rabbit. and it is delicious, I might add) She will be a wonderful addition to our family!

Pot Love

No, this isn't a post devoted to a love of illegal substances. I just had to make a special dedication to my pots & pans. Back in October, my Mom came to visit & 'suggested' (in a way only a mother can) that I needed some new pots. Some of my pots were kind of warped, but that is to be expected after 10 years of use, no? We had just gotten a new stove, the flat top kind, and when I would boil water or put something to cook, the pots would rock back & forth as if possessed by the demon of cookery. This, my Mom pointed out, would eventually lead to a cracked stove top. Yikes!

So we went to Sam's Club later that week and bought a brand new set of everything. And totally worth the $139. Every penny. It was a bit hard getting rid of my old pots & pans. It was like giving away my children. We had been through so much together; the triumphs & the failures. If pots could talk . . . But I have since recovered from my self-imposed loss and have learned to love again. Probably even more than before. These babies are non-stick. Truly non-stick. I have for you, Exhibit A.



This is what happens when you start Ramen for your 3 year old, then forget about it until your 10 year old sticks her head in your shower and asks, "Did you start cooking some Ramen?" Uh oh. I told her to go turn off the stove and I'd take care of everything. I was imagining the worst. Boiled over, burned to the pan and stove; an ugly mess. But behold, Exhibit B.



My clean pot. I did nothing to the pot or picture. After sitting and boiling away for who knows how long, I picked up the pot and slid the patty 'o' Ramen out onto a plate. Nice and clean. Completely amazing. These pots take a little extra work, i.e. I don't put them in the dishwasher, I handwash them with a washcloth. But when this is all the cleanup required, it doesn't seem like work at all. Just pure pleasure! Oh, and if you were curious, here's what 'Baked Ramen' looks like. Bon Apetit!

YouTube Tuesday: Welcome to the Family

Ah, I had such noble intentions for today's video. But any intentions, productive or otherwise, were flushed down the toilet when I got a text at 6:40am this morning. It read:

" Goodmorning :) school is out because of snow. all of IF and Rigby have been shut down . . . have a grear snow day"

I'm sure she intended to say 'great' but today will be anything but. Today was supposed to be the first day back to school after Spring Break. Yesterday, the mantra, "Tomorrow is school. Tomorrow is school." kept looping in my head. Oh, so without further ado, I give you the YouTube clip of the day. Yes, I find this hil-arious.

Spreading the word

Ok, I'm not big into blogging about other's blogging. I find it redundant. But this time is for a really good cause. This gal is doing her thesis on . . . *drumroll* . . . blogging! She needs people to fill out questionnaires and send them back to her. In return, you are entered in a drawing for a $100 gift card to Target. Or in French - tar-get. Oh yeah, it sounds the same in print. You know what I mean!! I'm all for entering a drawing, but I also think it's a great reason to help out. Because between you, me and the computer screen, the truth is . . . I never win anything. Ever.

So, here's the linky-do --> Blogging Questionnaire <-- Have fun!! Oh, and here's a fun picture of Grant. Ah, a time in his life when he won't mind Mommy taking a picture of him in the bath.