Sunday, November 26, 2006

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

It’s cold, dreary and rainy in The Sandbox. Yes, it is! Unbelievable as it may sound. And this household has been extremely busy for the past couple of weeks and will likely continue to be – although there will be a lull between now and Christmas – when I am hopeful that I will have been able to get the entire Visa situation completed and that my parents will be here to visit us for three weeks!!! They currently live in upstate New York – the snow belt – where it’s been cold and snowing since before Halloween – so when I complain about how cold it is here in The Sandbox at 68 or 70 degrees – my parents have almost NO sympathy for me – none whatsoever as a matter of fact…

And perhaps 68 or 70 degrees doesn’t sound particularly cold but consider that it is about 120 degrees here almost every day for six months of the year – for it to be 50 degrees cooler is quite drastic and feels cold! Although I’m guessing that my parents will be comfortable in shorts and tee-shirts at 70 degrees when they are currently experiencing temperatures in the teens, twenties and thirties. [It was a little warmer there – in upstate New York – this past week from what I understand so it’s not quite as dreadful as they would like for us to believe it is.]

I did do a big Thanksgiving dinner here and invited quite a few people [read: men] that are here alone without their families. DH won a turkey at a golf tournament and it just seemed appropriate that we should cook it for Thanksgiving – and so I did – along with all the fixings and a six-pound prime rib! [I won’t eat any poultry – beef, pork, seafood, yes, but NO poultry!] It was nice. A lot of work. But then everyone knows how much work Thanksgiving dinner is!!! Definitely worth it. I know my efforts were sincerely appreciated by several that would not have had a Thanksgiving dinner to go to otherwise.

Another houseboy has come to try to clean and do so knowing that I have almost impossibly high expectations. He is doing okay so far. Slow. He is very, very slow. But, then I’m not paying him very much at all and I don’t think I’d work very fast for that paltry sum of money. The houseboy prior? The one who couldn’t follow simple
bathroom cleaning instructions? Gone. You get three weeks to show me whether or not you can do the job. After that, time’s up. Either you can do it or you can’t. Yes, my expectations are high, but I believe with a bit of effort they can be met, and so far so good. DH is not putting any money on this one – he believes the poor man “is toast.”

There is a lot going on here in The Sandbox. We’ve had quite a few executions – well, beheadings – whatever you want to call the form of death penalty here – lately. There are quite a few more mistreated workers and there is a woman from another country that married a local and has since escaped with her children and returned home. We have had a terrible sentence handed down to a couple of rapists AND the victim – yes, the victim has been punished!!! Amazing. Just amazing. So, there is quite a bit to “blog” on and I will get going tomorrow as soon as the houseboy shows up and start putting entries together to get back into my “Stilettos.” Trust me, lately I’ve had sneakers on. Doing all that I’ve been doing around here, are you kidding? There’s no way I could have had Stilettos on!!! “Sneakers in The Sand” just doesn’t quite portray the flavor I want perceived, though. Yes. Time to put the Stilettos back on!!!

In the meantime, hopefully I’ll be able to get a full night’s sleep tonight – we had thunder and lightening all last night – and it poured. I mean poured!!! We had a pool in our front court yard this morning where we usually send the kids out to do their business. It has never, ever rained so hard for so long in the entire time we have been here. The trees were all bright green today for the first time that I can recall in a long time – they were cleaned of the gray, brown dust they are normally covered with. We, no doubt, needed the good heavy, thorough soaking we got last night.

The downside to that was the thunder and lightening. The kids absolutely hated it – The Baby especially! So we had The Boy between us – he’s about one hundred and twenty pounds – and The Baby – who’s weighing in at about fifty-seven pounds right now – thank goodness she’s almost full-grown! [She will likely not get much bigger than she is – she’ll be a year old next month.] The Baby went nuts barking and growling every time it thundered so no one slept much last night, including our neighbors. It would be good to wake up and feel refreshed tomorrow morning and get on with our routine which includes a good hour and a half walk first thing – and because of the weather lately – two days of rain!!! – we’ve been housebound, not walked and had no exercise but for chasing balls inside and playing tug with various ropes and squeaky fur toys.

So, I will plan on rising and shining [okay, maybe not exactly shining!] early, walking, getting breakfast out of the way, and as soon as the houseboy gets here will hit the computer keyboard and try to fill everyone in on the happening’s in The Sandbox of late…

A belated Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

5 comments:

  1. Good to see you back. Its cold and raining here in Dubai too. I feel like snuggling up to a warm fire, or even a warm radiator with a hot chocolate. My mother says I'm pathetic lol!!!

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  2. happy belated thanksgiving to you also sabra!! Did u buy your mom a new abaya and veil so she view the sights of saudia?

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  3. happy beleated thanksgiving to you too sabra!! Did u buy your mom a new abaya and veil so she can view the sights of sadia?

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  4. oops, I didn't realize I double posted, sorry about that!!

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  5. Dear Sabra,
    So glad to see that you had company to celebrate Thanksgiving; Holidays are meant to be shared. I guess the guys must have missed the ubiquitous football games... and since you had a small deluge, I cannot imagine that they were particilarly inclined to play touch-football in sandy mud, or did they?? There is a little boy inside every man that always seems to show up on occasion such as these, which is another reason to treasure our mates, isn't it?
    I am also very happy that you have found new domestic help, slow as he may be at least he does not give you lip nor attitude. With incentive and constant praise for good work, you should be able to charm him to speed things up a notch, and get everything ship-shape for Xmas and your long awaited guests.
    Thank you to take some of your precious time to give us a heads up, as you said a whole lot has been happening in the Magic Kingdom of late, all worthy of notable posts. Terrible stuff as well as very sneaky moves on the political front...We do live in 'interesting times'!

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