GOOD MORNING MENA -

I hope that everyone has a great day today. I am playing catch up at work - trying to find the bottom of my desk - perhaps I can today...looking forward to after work and some more blackberry picking...although i hope to avoid the thorn in my head that i received last time...hahaaa....

have a great day everyone and its time for some good news?? anyone??

hi

j

At least Monday is over

Good morning everyone. Work for me again tonight, I am starting to really hate working nights for some reason. I can't wait for school to start so I can finally sleep during the day.
I agree, something has got to happen, and soon. I am beginning to think that all the embassies fell into the Bermuda Triangle. Or everyone went on break and forgot to come back to work. Someone has got to get an interview, or a visa or SOMETHING SOON!!!

I'm just hanging out......wanna hear from Tamara about her flight! I hope she is safe and sound.

How is everybody? Well, a better question......WHERE is everybody?

Jackie - do you like other types of music in Spanish besides Marco Antonio? I know of some songs that made me think about you by Diana Reyes. (She sings the duranguense type of music.) Have you heard of her?

Take care everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just got back from the doctor for my girls' checkups. Was supposed to be out of there by 10am. I just NOW have had my first sip of morning coffee!!!

Going to the beach in a few and plan on planting myself for a good two hours so I can finally finish my book that I'm reading. Took a while to get into it but now I'm hooked.

Droppin the kiddos off at their dad's at 4 and then going out to dinner with an old girlfriend who I've known since kindergarden.

Tomorrow when I pick the kids up in the morning we're off to IKEA for the first time. It's a little ways away (I think an hour and a half or something) from us but I've never been there and they look like they have such cool stuff just by looking at the website.

Hope you all have a good one!

Hope you are going to wear some gloves. Don't want to get chiggers!!!!!!

Melinda, I love fresh blackberries!

There was a big blackberry patch/farm (I don't know what they are called) close to my hometown. We used to go and get a quart or two of blackberries a couple of times during the summer. Once, I was craving them terribly and I stopped by after class to buy some. Well, the guy that owned the patch? was nowhere around. I called out and noone answered. I even looked up and down the rows of blackberries (from a distance) and I couldn't find him. There was a little refrigerated trailer that was on his property and I knocked first, then opened the door to see if he was inside. I didn't find him, but I did find two quarts of blackberries!............................................................................
......



sooooo.............I wanted to take them!!!!!But, I didn't have the exact change to pay for them! I was dying!!!! I started digging all around my car to try and find the change I was needing. ( I don't remember how much it was ) And I think I found a dollar between the seats and some quarters in my trunk from laundry day! I must have spent about 30 minutes with my legs hanging out of my car! I finally get the money close enough to the right amount and I took one container of the blackberries and left the money under the other container (sticking out just a tad) . I was so appreciative that the blackberries were already picked and were nice and cool , I couldn't NOT take them, and I definitely couldn't NOT pay for them!

I was amazed that he or anyone else never showed up while I was there! It started to feel creepy being on that property and everything looked deserted!

Anyway, that's my blackberry story.


Doodle, what are you reading?

Allousa, how is the baby's preschool going?

Cairo Embassy (heck, ANY embassy), can we get a flippin visa over here (in MENA)??

in Stoughton?? LOVE it! You're gonna have fun.

I was there a couple weekends ago... locked my keys in my car (well actually my husband did ). They have really fun stuff and a restaurant and a snack bar. It's like an adult playground. Be careful of the quality of stuff you buy.... I've bought some stuff that I love that has lasted for a long time and stuff that falls apart almost immediately. I have to go back and pick up some stuff to furnish our new place, but I'm waiting until after the Sept. 1st rush.. I made that mistake last year .

get the $1 frozen yogurts on the way out

Get the little Swedish oat crisp cookies, too. OMG soooo good!

Which book are you reading, Doodle? I'm looking for another good book to read. I just finished "A Thousand Splendid Suns" this past weekend. I was sad that I finished it. It was so good. It's one of those books you don't wanna put down. I loved "The Kite Runner" but thought "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was better. Maybe because it was about women so I could relate more. Or maybe because the author had grown as a writer. Either way, I recommend it.

Whoot Tuesdays are my long days at school! Start with classes at 8am and go till 9:30pm with some hour breaks inbetween. It's just the way labs worked out and the classes I needed. Got to talk to Waleed last night for several hours and we were brain storming on ideas for this other research paper topic on Africa. One of the key events I may work on for this research paper is Sadat's speech to the Israeli Knesset that potentiall initiated a new momentum for peace before his assassination. Another topic I have in mind is the Aswan dam and the regional affects. Then of course there is the ever present AIDS/HIV pandemic I could investigate and report on. That's certainly post cold war and a recent hot topic since the head of one of the South African AID advisors was fired maybe a month ago.

Any suggestions?

I'll check back later since I need to head to my 11 o'clock POLS class.

TTYL,

Olivia

I'm reading The Alexandria Link, by Steve Berry.

It's not something I'd really recommend unless you have a full few days totally dedicated to it without distractions. I got it to read on the plane to Alexandria since I thought it would be cool but never really got into it. Then I read a chapter here and there but nothing that makes me wanna run home and read it, BUT when the kids aren't home and I have nothing else to do it is a good read.

His best book by far in my opinion is The Romanov Prophecies. LOVED it and couldn't put it down.

We just got back from the beach. Never fails...before we go I say, "does everyone have a towel???" and they say "no mom, we're not going swimming...we're too old for that!" and then we get there and they compain that they don't have a towel because of course they want to go swimming. Didn't stay long but enough to get some nice sunshine and fresh air.

I TOTALLY agree. In fact what you wrote is almost verbatim what I was saying to my reading friends about that book. I read it in 24 hours, couldnt put it down.

What up, Monnik???????

My boy's preschool is going GREAT!!! He cries when I leave him, but the teacher said that a few mintues after I'm gone, he's fine for the rest of the day. How wonderful that I have guilt for 8 hours and he is fine after 5 minutes!!! Oh well.

In just the two weeks that he's been in school, his vocabulary is off the charts!!!! He also goes RIGHT to sleep at bed time because he's just so worn out from the day. He did do the funniest thing though yesterday that he had to have learned from someone at school. He would go to the center of the room and just fall down and he would say "OMPH!" real loud. He did it over and over about 15 times. He probably kept doing it because I was laughing so hard I couldn't catch my breath. He's such a cutie pie!!!!!

I got to talk to my love for an hour and half this Sunday. We are both chomping at the bit to get an answer from Rome. I swear we act like high school kids talking and giggling about what we're going to do when he gets home. (Okay, get your mind out of the gutter....well....half out of the gutter ) We really love cooking together in the kitchen and grilling out so we're really excited about that. The house that I bought for us has the most awesome screened in porch that looks out over the backyard. Most anytime that people come over, they usually end up out there. So, I'm excited for us to just enjoy being together again.

I am really, really, really hoping that we don't have to sit and wait until November or December to find out Rome's decision. Inshallah, it will be APPROVED and IT WILL BE SOON!

Inshallah, SOON for all of us!

Morning

Jackie, Your fun is only a few days away! I want pictures!!!

Tuesday... what can be said about Tuesday except that it is not Monday .... I guess that is better than nothing, right Lost an employee today so I'm gonna have to start working Mon-Fri 8am-6pm and Sat 9-1...yay for overtime, I guess I haven't worked more than 3.5 days a week for the last 8 years so I'm not sure just how well this is going to work out. Either way, I'm gonna give it a go.

I hope u all get some good news this week!

amal

Ok...on day 2 of the cabbage soup diet. Yes yes I know crash dieting is bad but i need to make sure i can get my butt in my dress in the next 30 days. So no eating.... LOL. Someone please convince me how delicious cabbage soup is...

I actually like cabbage soup....with hot pepper added. I don't think I'd like it if it were the only thing I could eat. Good luck with the dieting.

I love cabbage and cabbage soup. I hope you make it and look great in your dress!

My favorite way to eat cabbage is fried/steamed with fat back & black pepper and with a big slice of my mom's homemade cornbread with butter slathered inside and dripping down the sides! mmmmmmmmmmmm

That's not diet talk, but I love cabbage & cornbread!

Yes I think hot pepper would help quite a bit.

the cabbage soup diet?! does that work?
how about exercising alot instead and cutting down cals and eating protein?
i had a baby in april and i am in my best shape yet - i lost all of the baby weight and then some through eating healthier and working out lots.
i work out 6x per week, try to do at least 30 minutes of cardio a day (usually elliptical), and some ab work, and then i do weight training 4x per week. and when i do weight training i do tons of squats and lunges.
i noticed a HUGE difference after the first two weeks and since i started weight training intensely i definitely noticed a quick result.
just an idea - every time i tried to do fasting or diets like this (master cleanser?!) i gave up and got nowhere as a result, but if you can make it work more power to ya!



also... i incorporated new things to my diet that are really healthy and low cal. for instance tons of vegetables, egg whites, shirataki noodles (tofu noodles sorta like pasta that are 40 cals for a whole bag), ezkiel bread/pasta/tortillas, tons of fish, limited red meat/bread/sugar etc.

Well yes it does work and I know its not good for me. I do work out 4-5 days a week but desperate times call for desperate measures. I tried my dress on the other day and its too snug! Its also not uncommon for brides to crash diet the month before their wedding. I agree 100% that your way is the better way but for now this will give me instant guaranteed results.

Kudo's to you for sticking to it. I've been dieting for 2-3 months now. The exercise has helped alot too. I do pick one day that I let myself have what I want and that has kept me from falling off the wagon.

I don't like cooked cabbage AT ALL! BLECH! Maybe if it was drizzled with vast amounts of chocolate.

Good luck with the diet though! Stick with it girlie and call on us if you need motivation! We're proud of you!

Haha thanks! I can't say I'm sticking to it yet since its only day 2 but I am highly motivated not to wear a girdle on my wedding day, LOL. Last time I did that, I fainted at the altar. I don't really mind the taste of cooked cabbage but its the green bell peppers that I can't stant!

All I know is dieting sucks, and I don't crave anything until I hear the word diet. Last night we were watching the food network (didn't help one bit) and it was a show called "the secret life of drive ins", I was so hungry by the end that I scarfed down an entire bowl of cabbage soup without even thinking of the taste.

You might want to stop the cabbage soup diet a few days before the actual wedding though. You don't want to be gassing up a storm at the altar! It will negate the effects of your new slim bod.

Yeah I thought of that one already and went and got some Beano that I put in the soup before eating it. So far so good.....no gassyness at all. Thank God!!!

Pretty much any soup would work. There's nothing magical about the cabbage.

LOL I think there is...maybe its the fact that it makes me not want to eat because its so nasty? I mean if it were cream of broccoli, I'd be alll over it!


By the way...THANK YOU ONE MILLION GAZILLION TIMES for the shampoo tip! That shampoo rocks! I found it at Rite Aid like you said and picked some up, my hair has never been so healthy and bouncy. And you are right, it really helps with slippage.

I should have probably said 'non-cream based soup.' Get thee some tasty gazpacho!

Yeah I think this soup taste similar to a minestrone without the beans/pasta. I actually think it tastes better cold too. Eat to live...don't live to eat.....I just have to keep telling myself that until I can breathe in my freaking dress.

I bought my dress back in April before he came and it fit just fine. Since he came its like back in college when I gained the freshman 15! Men have such bad eating habits and he is a very bad influence on me. He will constantly say, just one more, just one more.

Also try eating "normal" about a week before the actual wedding because.............take it from me...if you crash diet and then eat normal all of a sudden your digestive system goes into shock and you'll be in the bathroom 24/7!!! don't wanna spend the honeymoon in the john!!!!!

Is the cabbage soup diet the one where you also eat only bannanas one day, then only something else the other day, etc.? I think I lost a LOT of weight on that one.

I'm liking Weight Watchers 'cause I can eat anything I want, just in reasonable portions. The first week was a b!tch but I'm used to it now. WW has keylime pie now and although it is a wee bit too tart it does the trick when I get that craving!

Well there really is no honeymoon. His parents are coming from Jordan and his brother from China to attend the wedding so we can't really leave them behind. I also have a ton of other guests that will be coming from out of town. So what we decided to was to go to Vegas for a few days about 5 days after the wedding, BUT his family is coming with us and so is mine.

I'm pretty sure my system will go into shock if I start eating like a mad woman which I don't intend to do until after the wedding LOL.

Yeah thats the one Doodle, day one is fruit/soup, day two veggies/soup, day three fruit/veggies/soup, day four milk/bananas/soup, day 5 beef/tomatoes/soup, day 6 beef/tomatoes/soup/, day 7 rice/unsweetened juice/soup.

Its gonna be tough, well it already is but I HAVE to do it.

hey doodle, did you get your carpet ripped up? Are you redoing the hardwood under it?

J

ok i want in on this shampoo what makes hair health and bouncy?? ty melinda

Not yet 'cause I just had to shell out $250 on a bed frame, mattress and boxspring for my oldest who has been sleeping on a diagonal slant since her "bff" showed off her backflip and broke her old bed.

BUT....where the heck do I call to even rip the stuff up? NY Carpet? Empire? I have NO CLUE. lol. I don't want the old floor redone. I'll just clean it myself once everything is up and put a few throw rugs on there. Usama can shellak it or whatever the heck it's called once he's here. I'm growing a mighty fine "honey-doo" list I'll tell ya!! So far he has to repaint the back deck, rescreen the side deck, put that shellaky shiney stuff on the floors of the whole house, re tile the room in the basement....etc. etc..... I told him and he's all gung hooo but we'll see how he feels when he gets here hahahahahaha

ok i take back what i said, i think ur plan will be good!! i thought u were ONLY eating cabbage soup!!!!!

Its called Activate.

C.'s a bad influence on me, too. I gained a little weight (~3 lbs) but my bodice fit very tightly. Fortunately, the week before the wedding I was too busy to eat much and I slimmed back down.

ty i am going to get some of this activate my poor hair needs it!! ty again