Six Interesting Things...

A few others have this at their sites. You list six interesting things about yourself. Feel free to chime in with YOUR six things!

Here are my six. Although, quite frankly, they probably aren't that interesting at all...

1. I will read just about anything I can get my hands on. Sure, I have preferences, but if there is nothing that is available, I will resort to reading The Yellow Pages in a phone book or the back of a cereal box.

2. I have had long fingernails for as long as I can remember. Going back to being a child. Really. I would feel naked without them.

3. I used to only wear black. Until we left the States, I had no color in my wardrobe. It was all black. Everything was black. Black shirts, black pants, black dresses, black suits [I'm sure I had no less than thirty black suits!], black tank-tops, black bike shorts... All black. I had the shoes, boots, sneakers and sandals to match. All black. Now, I wear NO black at all.

4. I am one of the most predictable people I have ever met. I do not change or stray from certain habits. Ever. I am also a perfectionist. Towels are always folded the exact same way and placed in the exact same spot in the closet. Same for sheets. And, underwear and socks. All the clothes in our closets are organized by color and sleeve lengths and must hang in the same direction. Jeans and pants must all face the same direction. Ditto for the hangers. My spice cabinet is alphabetized and I have a list - in alphabetical order, of course - of every spice in that cabinet. The dishwasher must be loaded "properly." Glasses on the top left, cups on the top rights. Large plates on the bottom left, medium sized plates on the bottom right. My books are alphabetized in my bookcases. I can tell when they have been touched. There is no room for deviation.

5. It has been eons since I ate any poultry. I cannot stand the smell. I detest the feel of it and I wear disposable gloves if I have to touch it. I will not cook poultry for my husband. I will, however, cook it for my two precious little four-legged Kids.

6. I am a germ fanatic. If I touch a door knob I must use an anti-bacterial wipe. If I touch money, I need a "wipe" immediately. I wash my hands more times a day than you can imagine. I cannot possibly eat food - with my fingers or hands - if my hands haven't been sterilized, first. I do not use a tub in a hotel room - shower, yes - tub, no. I carry my own Lysol with me to use in hotel bathrooms. I never let my feet touch the floor in a hotel. That is why flip-flops and slippers were made! I whip off the bedspread as soon as I enter a hotel room - I do not want to touch it. I am funny about using other people's phones - or pens - or bathrooms. I don't do it unless it is an absolute necessity. I do not share "personal" items with anyone. No, you cannot use my chap stick. If you use it, you can have it. My husband would be an exception to this, and perhaps my mother or my son, but no one else. I was able to get out of the gym requirement in high-school because of my "germ phobia." I will not take my shoes off at an airport. Go ahead and pull me aside and search me and wand me. Until I see a can of Lysol being used after every person has walked through that metal detector, there is no way I'm taking MY shoes off.

I could add a seventh. I won't. The "game" only calls for six. I have a very, very strange thing I do when I can't sleep. My DH says I probably shouldn't tell anyone I do what I do. He thinks I could possibly be "certifiable."

Cold Front - Not Much Hope

Burrr. Cold out. The thermometer says 70 degrees for the first time in a long while this morning. Even The Boy couldn't take it. I opened the door - I felt the cold air rush in - and I went outside to see what the temperature is. As I was headed back inside The Boy didn't even bother with his usual "I'll go sniff here and here before I come in." Nope. He has short hair. He wanted back in, and quickly.

Interesting editorial in one of today's papers: "Don't pin much hope on Obama." No worries in that regard. None whatsoever. Hmmph! Well that didn't take long did it? The excuses have already begun and the man has not even been sworn into office yet. If I didn't post this article from last week, I should have. Clearly not everyone in the Middle East is convinced that Mr. Obama is America's best choice for President. I don't think it is going to take very long for people to catch on to the fact that our new administration isn't going to be able to perform the miracles that have been promised.

I am done with politics. Unless something earth-shattering happens I won't be posting anything more about the election. It is over. Done. The man that won is not who I supported, but then, the man I supported wasn't necessarily the best choice either. And, honestly, I don't think Senator McCain wanted to win this past election or he could have. We have the chance to start cleaning things up again in 2010 and then do a thorough house-cleaning in 2012 [and I mean thorough - the whole lot of 'em ought to be thrown out! with the exception of a small handful - very, very small handful!!!].

DOH!

I think it is Homer Simpson who says that, right?

The other day I turned comments moderation on. It had been off for quite sometime. I was under the mistaken impression that the comments would be e-mailed to me [some were] so that I could decide whether I wanted a particular comment posted or not. For whatever reason, I went to "Moderate Comments" on Blogger and whoa! 498 comments to be moderated. WHAT?!? Where did they come from???

Many have been sitting in "Moderate Comments" for almost two years! Yikes!!! I just spent over two hours going through them and publishing the ones that should have been published - a long, long time ago - and deleting all the junk and spam. No, I don't need Viagra or Cialis, thank you. I am not at all interested in "younghotsexygirls" or in "hotgayyoungstuds," either. I am not looking for a mortgage and I am not interested in making money at home. Two thirds of the comments that needed "moderated" were just junk and spam. Geez!

Interestingly enough, I had quite a few comments from "Anonymous" whoever he/she/they are and I am not going to post them. They were the usual, "All you do is complain about everything." Someone has read my blog "a few times" [a "couple" is two; a "few" is three or more] and says "there is nothing entertaining about it." If you weren't entertained the first or second time, why did you bother returning? That same person - in the same comment - tells me that I am a "bitter, arrogant, egotistical, materialistic, superficial, hateful and grumpy old woman." Au contraire, but I think perhaps it is you, "Anonymous," who is bitter, arrogant, egotistical, materialistic, superficial, hateful and old and you don't have your own blog to bloviate on and think you are going to be able to do so here. Wrong. Another Anonymous said that I "use racist terms" and that my "writing is just venting hatred that I have for everything including my husband." Really? Point me to ONE single post where I have ever said anything remotely negative about my husband! Someone else - another "Anonymous" said that I am "hurtful and hateful and I should just move." Yeah. I'll take your advice under consideration, on a day that doesn't end in "Y." But you be sure to keep checking back to see if I'm gone, yet, okay?

Wow. With all those fabulous compliments I am glad "Moderate Comments" is on. However, if you were one of many commenter's whose comments never showed up on my blog it isn't because I didn't want your comment - it is because I thought they were all being e-mailed to me and only a some of them were - so you've sat in "Moderate Comments" for a long, long time, and for that I apologize. All the comments are now "moderated" and but for the "Anonymous" who want to spew their wrath at me, all have been posted. If you weren't posted at this point, you were deleted because you are a "Reject." This is my blog and I can giddily "Reject" or "Publish" whatever comments I want. Oh the power! I'm laughing now...

Nothing Exciting - Weekends are Slow

Thursday and Friday... The weekend, here in the Sandbox. Not such a bad thing that there is nothing exciting happening. The election is finally over. Everyone is happy, happy, happy about the result. Sure they are. Hope change about to take place. We can fix things in a couple of years... Clean up on aisle 1600! Flopping Aces has a post where Tina Fey [a Tina Fey lookalike?] is holding a Palin in 2012 shirt. I want one!

There are a lot of other sites that are being much more gracious about the win than I am.* [I am just a "racist b---h" according to a someone who came here to visit and then posted that as a comment at another site that I won't bother mentioning.] I will get over it. So, it didn't go my way. Lots of things in life don't. I'll woman-up and get over it. [Oh, and just for the record, I could care less what color the President of the United States is. He could be green or purple - or even plaid - and it wouldn't matter to me. What matters is how that person - man or woman - will lead our country!]

Rachel Lucas has good news! She is getting married. Congratulations, Rachel!!! And she is moving across the pond to Britain in January. The Brits will never know what hit 'em...

Gill, That British Woman, has a post on 50 + 1 Sweet Potato recipes. Sweet potatoes are very expensive over here. 40SR per kilo. That is 2.2 pounds for $10.72! How much are sweet potatoes in the States?

Hostess with the Mostess has my absolute favorite eggplant recipe up, again. It is yummy, yummy, yummy. And easy, easy, easy! [If you have kids who won't eat eggplant - I didn't as a child - don't tell them what it is. I bet they'll eat this and luv it!]

Fausta gives us another fine example of the many uses of the oh so versatile duct tape. Too funny...

Using photos of Casey Anthony so that she can avoid the death penalty is just wrong. What about Caylee Anthony? Did she get to "avoid the death penalty?" No. She didn't. Casey Anthony deserves the death penalty. Oh, sure. "Innocent until proven guilty" and all that crap. She did it. The case has been tried in the media, publicly. Verdict? Guilty. There. Surely time, effort and public resources can be put to much better use. "On March 30, 1998, Judias "Judy" Buenano became the first woman to die in Florida's electric chair." Let Casey Anthony be the second woman to get the "hot seat." [Sometimes I crack myself up! Not very often...]

Jennifer Aniston is pregnant with twins. Who cares? Whatever.

Michael Critchton has passed away. I read many of his books years ago before I quit reading fiction. I still do not read fiction, unless it is written by Brad Thor! [Had no idea that Brad Thor is the new Salman Rushdie. Big surprise. (/sarc off)]

News more local to the Sandbox...

Raouf Amin, an Egyptian physician, has been sentenced to 1500 lashes and 14 years in jail for "addicting a Saudi Princess to painkillers." [Personal responsibility? What is that?!?] "An appeal court judge ruled that Amin will be beaten weekly until he has received 1,500 lashes... The Middle East Times was told by a human rights lawyer that Amin was given his first 70 lashes last week and will get 70 more this week." Read the whole thing. Weasel Zippers does a MOST excellent job scouring the bowels of the internet so I don't have to...

The Rizana Nafeek [a young maid who languishes in jail with a pending death penalty hanging over her head who is accused of killing a baby] case continues; her interpreter has left the Kingdom, for good.

*Listed in absolutely no particular order or preference...

Stock Tip

Textiles.

If you've got half a brain you'll be able to figure it out.

Mark my words.

One Bad Anonymous Apple...

Unfortunately one bad apple always has to spoil the whole bunch. I have turned comments moderation on. A certain person - not even man [or woman] enough to post under a real name, but instead, only as "Anonymous" decided he [or she] needed to leave a comment with what I consider to be a "tone" that is not welcome here. He [or she] also called me a bitch. And he [or she] said it like it's a bad thing! You do what you're good at...

I will review comments, for the time being, before they get posted. I am more than open to discussion and differing opinions, here. I am not open to rude, though, in any way, shape or form. Yes. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This blog is mine though, and since it encompasses MY opinion if you want to leave comments that say, "Obama won! In your face, bitch. Don't be thankful yet; people like you will never find a haven in Saudi.:)" then you need to go hang out somewhere else. If you disagree with what I have to say find another place that you will be more comfortable hanging out, anonymously, whoever you are. Certainly there are sites far more apropos and better suited to the gutter level of intelligence and social status you so obviously cling to. We have a name for people like you, but I won't use it here. My mother does occasionally visit and I have far too much respect for her.

Downtown for something different...

I should have taken my camera. [Wouldn't have mattered much, though, since I can't get the printer to work to upload pictures right now.]

Had a few errands to do. Paint. When have I gone downtown and NOT needed paint? I am done with Jotun's though. There is a shop right next door to Jotun's called Red Sea and they sell the same paint and they are much more willing to be of assistance and help. Don't get me wrong - the young men that are imported at Jotun's are very willing to be of assistance and help. When I returned the paint-card samples yesterday - I had a catalog which I paid SR100 to "borrow," and because I don't need a catalog of paint sample colors I wanted the SR100 I paid as a deposit for it returned to me - the two young men working there were both surprised that I didn't need paint. Nope, no paint for me today. Yes. I still need paint. I just couldn't be bothered with it, yesterday. Had other errands to attend to.

A friend was with me. We needed to go to the "Everything for SR2, 5, 10" store. Like a Dollar Store. I had ONE specific item I needed there that I am carrying back as gifts for friends in the States over the Holidays. [You KNOW you're in for a real treat when a friend gets you a gift at the "Everything for SR2, 5, 10" store! Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?] We needed to go to the kitchen store. [We have the most magnificent kitchen stores you can even imagine!] We needed to go to the curtain store. We needed to go to Kika. And while we were at Kika - which is at The Mall of Dhahran - I HAD to go to our new Gap and Banana Republic. There is even a New York and Company there. Awesome. It could be almost normal if there were dressing rooms [not allowed in this part of the world and probably you wouldn't want them to be]. When they open a J. Crew I'll be all set!!! [And a HomeDepot!]

We did all that in less than an hour and a half and then headed to the grocery store - Farm Fare or Farm Five - in Doha - which is on the way home. The friend with me said, "Oooh have you ever had the cheese bread there?" as she pointed to a little shop around the corner of the grocery store. Nope. I haven't. I asked if it was the same as the cheese bread that everyone goes downtown for and she said yes, but better. Okay. I'll try it. So we ran into the grocery store - I was buying cigars for DH - that's all I needed there and afterward we walked around the corner to this little "open air" shop that had three men working there in a teeny, tiny confined area. There is probably some sort of metal gate that comes down on the front of the shop to close it, but I didn't check it out carefully enough to know for sure. As I am watching the men work their bread dough I am also watching the flies land on the counters and giving the place the "once over" to think to myself, "It has been a long time since the place has seen a bucket and a mop and sponge and some Lysol." [If the place has EVER seen a bucket and a mop and sponge and some Lysol...]

We ordered cheese bread. And I watched as one of the men took a good sized piece of dough and put a HUGE handful [like two cups!] of grated cheese in the dough and then stretched the dough around the cheese and closed it up. The dough - with the cheese - the MOUND of cheese - in the center got rolled out to a six or eight inch sized disc - and then hand-tossed into the size of a medium pizza. This all happened with just a few flicks of the wrist. The dough was then thrown - yes - thrown into the oven. A big round stone oven. [The oven took up most of the space in the little shop!] The dough does not cook on the flat bottom of the oven like you might imagine. It is thrown onto the sides of the oven and actually conforms to the shapes of the rocks. All very, very interesting. This needs pictures to show the detail. I have no doubt that the men working there would have been happy to accommodate me if I would have had my camera. I WILL get the pictures of this that YOU need to see. In a matter of minutes one of the men grabbed the cooked bread out of the oven with a pair of three or four foot long tongs and voila - cheese bread. There were other breads that we could have ordered - the sign is in Arabic - no English - but I did see the zatar [a mix of herbs that is very tasty and supposedly quite good for you] being used on an order for bread - and there was some sort of lentil paste which was being scooped into cups to which chili and spice and oil was added for a dipping sauce [I passed on the sauce - I am just not quite that "exotic," but my friend had the sauce and said it was the best part of the bread]. The bread comes out of the oven and it is HUGE - bigger than a large pizza. And, again, with just a couple quick flicks of his wrist one of the men cut it in half, then folded it and cut it in half again, and then once more. You end up with pie-shaped pieces of warm flat bread that has melted cheese in the middle of it.

The warm, cut bread was put into a "grocery" bag and we carried it home in our cab. Just the smell of it makes you hungry. But I couldn't possibly grab a piece to eat in the car because I needed a "wipe" or to wash my hands, having touched so many different doors and touched money. I am "weird" that way. Think of Monk. I wash my hands a gazillion times a day. And I don't touch food unless I have either washed my hands or used a wipe if I can't wash my hands. After seeing the little shop and thinking about the conditions which looked so unsanitary I wondered if I was going to be able to eat the bread. I did. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!

I pondered afterward how these men - all three of them - could work in such a confined space. But more, I wondered how they do it in the summer when it is 120 degrees here every single day and the little shop is open to the air on one side [I don't recall seeing an air conditioner] and how they can even stand the heat with the big stone oven throwing off as much as it does. The bread cost SR3 per piece - that is EIGHTY CENTS! - and one piece could easily feed two or three people. We each ordered a slice - not knowing that it was going to be so big - but I had enough to share with my Gardener and my Kids! I fed two adults and two good-sized Kids for EIGHTY CENTS!!! Oh, yes. I'll go back there. Mostly because the bread was soooo good! But also because these and the things I need to take the pictures of to have to show my grandchildren some day. [Son, are you reading this? I'm counting on you!]

Looks Like Four Years of Being Screwed!

And there is still the very, very smallest chance I could be wrong, but if B. Hussein Obama becomes the next POTUS I will be thankful for living here in the Sandbox!

How so many sheeples in the Greatest Country of the World - what will now "formerly be known as the Greatest Country in the World" as B. Hussein is going to ruin it - could not see through the layers and layers of crap and outright total B.S. to keep from electing someone so dangerous is beyond me. Voter fraud. Amongst other things. Rampant. Sick and scary at the same time.

People get what they deserve. And the people that voted for this man because he is going to "put gas in their cars and pay their mortgages" are clueless. You honestly think my DH, and millions of others, are going to work hard to pay more in taxes so you can sit on your ass and watch Oprah? I don't think so. Enjoy the squalor you are about to be living in. And enjoy watching B. Hussein turn The United States of America into a third world country.

If a miracle happens and I find out otherwise, I'll delete this post. Without a miracle Americans are in for four years of being screwed on a magnitude heretofore never seen before. You aren't going to even get kissed first. Just bend over...

Hope change? You betcha'!!!

Incessant Lack of Hope

Very interesting interview that Joe Biden did with Wide Angle which I saw at Saudi Jeans site. I am, by NO means, a Joe Biden fan or supporter. And, although I don't agree with all he has to say in this, he manages to hit the nail on the head with much of what he has to say.

On a different note, this is the very first video I've ever posted and I soooo hope that it works!

Lashes and Beatings... And, Another Fire!

An unmarried couple has been spared lashes for being in the state of "khulwa," or "khilwa." [Being alone together - in public - in the state of seclusion.]

Almost comical. No doubt the husband deserved his beating... The wife said, "I went on beating him because he did not resist. I don't know what I was doing." The article doesn't say how long the couple has been married or how much pent-up anger and frustration the woman had, but it had to be pretty substantial if she beat her husband severely enough to hospitalize him!

Is is just a coincidence that there have been SEVEN fires at ONLY girls' schools since the school year began? Sure it is. Um-hmm. Sure it is...

Unpaid for 18 Years!

There is just no excuse to not pay your maid for 18 years! If it is determined that this maid worked for the same family for 18 years and was not paid, that family needs to be thrown in jail for 18 years - or at least the head of the household. 18 years! Supposedly she was "not in sound mental health when she arrived at the mission... she might have lost her memory because of an absence of contacts with her family for a long period." 18 years without a break from this place? Yeah, that would about do it! The Sri Lankan Embassy is looking into the matter. "The embassy official said that the governorate has been considerate in dealing with such cases. He recalled that a maid - on the instructions of Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman - was paid SR59,000 in unpaid salaries for a period of 14 years earlier this year." SR59,000 for 14 years of salary is considerate?!? What do you call inconsiderate??? That maid - the one paid SR59,000 for 14 years of work was earning the equivalent of SR4214 a year - that works out to SR351 a month. [$15,817.00 for 14 years of work; $1129.00 a year; $94.00 a month - or approximately $3.00 a day to work as a maid!] $3.00 a day is NOT wages! Let people in the United States scream about reparations and slavery and all that. Then force those same screaming people to come here and find out what slavery is really all about! That'd be a real eye-opener...

Army of Workers for Lazy Americans

Last night was "Fantasy Football" night. I know one player's name. Two if you count one who is in jail. I could care less about football. How unAmerican is that!?! I didn't go for the football - I went for the food - and it was delicious. It was also a late night. I forgot to unlock the gate and unlock the side door for Inam this morning so the doorbell woke us. It was hardly his fault that he had to ring the doorbell since I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I got up out of bed to open the door for him and went right back to bed. A few minutes later the doorbell rang again. It was the pool guy - the back gate was double latched so he couldn't get in, either. And shortly after that Appuk [the gardener] and Hadar [Inam's brother] came to string wire across the back wall for the jacquemontia and bouganvilla. No doubt that they are all thinking, "Americans are lazy. The two that live in this household are still in bed!" Are we - the Americans that live here - or at least the two that live in our house - viewed as lazy by the workers from other countries? Probably.

I had a productive rest of the day even if my morning was lazy. There should be photos of The Pretty Princess posted here, but after fighting with the printer - which is where I stick the little "film thingy" to download them onto the computer - for over an hour, I gave up. The printer gave me a hard time last week, too, and I thought it was broken. [It was almost broken this afternoon! I wanted to pick it up and just hurl it. The green light goes on - then I click "download" and then I get a "device is empty" message.] We cannot have a broken printer! I need it too often. And I will never find the same one here to replace the one we have. There are 12 printer cartridges that need to be used before the printer can break! I will have DH play with it later to see if he can get my pictures to down load. The man has a heck of a lot more patience than I do when it comes to this kind of stuff.

There is a joke in here, somewhere...

Guess it must be too early. I should be able to find a joke in this somewhere, but animals, in my opinion, are NO laughing matter. [It is because I am "bitter."]

I am so "bitter" that I cannot even continue with a post, today... Y'all go ahead and carry on without me. I'll be back later.

Halloween Non-Event

It has come and gone with not a single trick-or-treater. Thank goodness! The Kids do NOT like Halloween. My Kids think children are scary enough without costumes. I turned the lights off last night - and locked the doors. Wouldn't have mattered - I didn't have any candy to hand out. If someone would have shown up I would have had to do what this commenter over at Ace's place did:

"...for Halloween I'm the stand by the door parent while my wife takes the kids out. I got myself an Obama Halloween costume to wear." [Racist!]

"Instead of handing out candy, I'm redistributing the candy of the kids who come to the door."

"When the kids come to the door I look at the bags, reach into the heavier ones from the kids that went round the block three times and give some of that to the lazy kid who doesn't want to walk so much."

"It's making me *real* popular. I may have to put the cars in the garage tonight."

Too damn funny!

Kind of like Chicago...

Okay, not really like Chicago. What are the crime statistics in Chicago? How many murders were there in the Windy City last year? Which city in the U.S. has the highest crime rate?

We are experiencing a cold spell, here, in the Sandbox. I won't get any sympathy from friends in Canada... But it is chilly enough to wear a sweatshirt in the mornings and then again after the sun goes down. It was only 79 degrees this morning when I got up! [Yep. Time to get the mittens and parka's out...] There is no humidity in the air and there is a breeze. It feels much cooler... Burrr! Never mind... The Kids will need to take their baths inside from now on. Thank goodness Inam [HB13] is back to clean the tub for me! I didn't get to finish grooming The Baby yesterday - I ran out of day light and I really, really need to clip her in the light. Poor little thing. She has one foot that wasn't done, her tail wasn't done and the top of her head. Everything else is finished. An hour this morning will take care of it. Then baths for The Baby and The Boy. Pictures tomorrow, not today. [Inam is going to regret coming back to work at our house when he sees the mess I am going to make in the tub!]

In today's news...

A woman has been arrested for the murder of her husband. The headline makes it very clear what the nationality of the woman is. "Pak expat held for kiling hubby." No, not a typographical error. That is what the headline says. "K i l i n g."

An article about a Filipino body laying in a hospital's morgue a month after he was killed by a Saudi security guard. Details about the man who died - the cause of his death - that he was able to identify his killer - but no mention of whether his murderer was arrested or is in jail...

A "killer" has been pardoned. "A Saudi on death row in Jizan jail for killing his fiancee 12 years ago, was spared the neck after the family of the deceased agreed to relinquish its right to demand implementation of the beheading sentence." Again, no typographical errors. That is what the article says.

Interesting little blurb about the police in Jeddah issuing 5,970 traffic tickets. Yeah. Sure. The article says that the "violations include using mobile phone while driving, throwing garbage from the car, embarking and disembarking while the vehicle was still moving and driving too slowly thus obstructing traffic." Nary a mention of speeding or running red lights and stop signs - which, in my opinion, are the cause of so much road carnage, here. Someone explain to me how one "embarks and disembarks" while a vehicle is still moving...

Twelve years in prison seems rather harsh for aiding and abetting "qat smugglers," but as I have repeatedly stated, authorities in the Sandbox take drug smuggling very, very seriously. Just. Don't. Do. It. When the "Welcome to Saudi Arabia" sign includes the sentiment, "Drug smugglers will be executed," do you really want to take the risk? No. I don't think so.

An "Illegal phone calls racket" has been "busted." Click here to see a photo, and then try to tell me with a straight face that it wasn't "staged." If it wasn't so serious - for those that were "busted," it would be comical. The article says, "A number of Asians, mostly taxi drivers, wait for their turn to make "cheap" illegal phone calls... The police raided the place and arrested an Asian expatriate running the illegal business. His assistant and 10 customers were also arrested... The suspects used to be extra cautious not to let strangers in without making an appointment in advance before a secret patrol penetrated the den." Apparently not "extra cautious" enough, though. "A secret patrol penetrated the den." It just sounds so clandestine...

Four more days - including today - and the election will be over and done with. Maybe. Actually, I anticipate recount after recount with allegations of "voter fraud" tarnishing what should be almost sacred. Hate is a very strong word. There are few things I "hate." I cannot quite bring myself to say that I "hate" Barack Hussein Obama, but I dislike him very, very, very, very much. Dislike enough to border on "hate." If this article was printed in the United States the mainstream media would be screaming! Hysteria would abound. Talk about racist! "We feel he is close to us. Because he is colored and of African extraction... I feel that Obama is close to the people and to the poor. He's not racist..." WHAT?!? Wake up, people! Smell the f^cking coffee!!! He is close to the people and to the poor? Ask his cousins and relatives living in squalor if he is "close" to "the poor." No. I do not hate him. But I so much want to see him go DOWN! The man does not deserve to be President of the United States. As a matter of fact, most of the men and women who have been elected to represent the people of the United States do NOT deserve to be sitting in Washington. But for only a small - very small - handful of our esteemed politicians - the whole lot of them ought to be thrown out on their asses into the street. And then run over by a big truck. Even if Sarah Palin is not our next Vice President, I have high hopes that she will in some way, shape or form, be able to shake things up a bit and make some changes. Sarah AND Joe the Plumber! It is our only hope for "change." [Heavy sigh...] Thankfully there is an iota of sanity over here in the Middle East. "Kuwaiti political analysit Ayed al-Manna said that while frontrunner Obama has captured hearts in the Gulf, a Republican administration was more likely to keep Iran and Islamist fundamentalist groups in check." No doubt about that! "Our feelings and hearts may be with Obama, but our minds and interests place us closer to the Republicans." [Thank goodness!] "The "hawkish" Republicas are more likely to curb Iran's attempts to exercise regional "hegemony." And "a weakening of US power in its hawkish form would embolden fundamentalist movements." Yeah, it would. Fortunately, the "lemmings" that live over here on this side of the world who think that "Hopechange Hussein Obamesseiah" should be the next President of the United States are NOT eligible to vote!

Quite enough for today, I think. [Visit again tomorrow for the promised pictures of "The Pretty Princess..."]

UPDATED: It's a small world out there in the blogosphere. I questioned how many people were murdered in Chicago last year and lo and behold, one of my daily must-reads has an answer for me! Well, kind of. The murder rate is listed for this year.

A dying giraffe is NOT funny!

When this comedy show was in Bahrain over EID, a month ago, I thought "Oh, that might be something fun to do." But then I came to my senses and realized that in order to see it we would need to be willing to sit for hours in order just to cross the Causeway to get to Bahrain, which is really only a little over a half an hour away from us, and that is not something we are willing to do. Now, after reading that one of the comedians of the show, Fahad Al-Butairi, thinks that a giraffe throwing up in a zoo in Utah and dying is funny I'm am especially thankful that we didn't bother to even try to go. He says, "It's a sad story, but if you think about it, it's funny. I mean, it must have taken him forever to throw up and die!" I fail to see any humor in that, whatsoever, and will make a mental note to never see you in your act no matter if you are playing at the park two blocks from me at a free venue. This is funny! [I knew, somehow, I'd find a way to get the story of a man buying a taser gun for his wife into my blog, I just wasn't sure how...]

The 14-year-old girl who was forced, by her father, to marry a pedophile man five times her age, has been granted a divorce. It is final. Supposedly, "the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with other government organizations will issue a decision before the end of the year that would prevent girls younger than 14 to be married. The decision was made after research showed marriages like this often end in divorce, create widows and cause psychological problems." [Really? Ya' think?!? Emphasis, mine.] Not to make light of the issue, in all seriousness, it is a really big "baby step" that is steering authorities, here, to even give the matter of children marrying men old enough to be their great-grandfathers consideration that will prevent the practice from continuing.

This blog is not about politics. It is one of several topics that I avoid even mentioning no matter how strongly I feel. Anyone who has been reading what I write for a while and knows what type of blogs I link to, could fairly easily ascertain which of the two candidates running for the office of President of the United States I support. In the two-plus decades I have been voting I cannot remember an election that has dragged on and on and on like the one that is about to be decided. I, no doubt along with millions of others, am glad that in five days it will be over and we can move forward. Unfortunately, with all that has happened in the political arena, this time around, I suspect we will not only have a repeat of the 2000 election that was not decided until a month or so after the actual election took place, but that the "repeat" will be on a magnitude unlike that of any in the entire history of the United States. It would appear as though the entire world wants for Barack Hussein Obama to become our next President. His campaign has been so wrought with scandal that, in my humble opinion, the man should be drawn and quartered and thrown in jail, but people refuse to see it. I equate it to lemmings being willing to jump off a cliff. Accusations that the mainstream media are in the tank for him are no longer just "accusations," but are now acknowledged as truth. And, as if that isn't enough, media on the other side of the world are "in the tank" for him, too! It is going to be interesting to see how long the decision takes to determine who has actually been elected President after November 4th, and more interesting to see how Obama supporters react it their "chosen one" is NOT the next President of the United States...

Enough for today. I started grooming The Baby yesterday and did not have enough time to finish. It is quite time consuming! [Admittedly, I did absolutely no research at all with regard to the ongoing grooming that Standard Poodles require when I made the decision that The Boy really, really needed a Standard Poodle for a Little Sister.] Yes, I could take The Baby to the groomer and have her done there, and as good of a job as they do, I know they are not nearly as gentle as I am with her. I'm off to go finish clipping her and then this afternoon both Kids will get baths [oh the fun we WILL have!]. I will try to post pictures of The Baby tomorrow when the transformation from Rastafarian Rockstar to Pretty Princess is complete! Awww, how precious is that...

Bet this came as quite a shock!

A man has been sentenced to 50 lashes for smoking on a flight from Dammam to Riyadh. Truly, I bet he thought that nothing would happen to him for doing so. "No smoking" signs, here in the Sandbox, only mean that "it would be very much appreciated if you didn't light up but if you do then that is just fine because absolutely nothing will be done to enforce no smoking." I went to the Mall of Dhahran a week or so ago where there are "no smoking" signs posted all over and yet dozens and dozens of men were walking around with their lit cigarettes without a care in the world that those "no smoking" signs actually meant something. [There are no ashtrays anywhere except for in designated areas - Starbucks, for one - and the men just casually flicked their ashes on the floor and put their cigarettes out under their feet and kept walking. We have a force of a gazillion little guys from other countries that push the brooms around and clean up the cigarette butts. No need to dispose of your cigarette butts or trash in designated receptacles - by all means, just throw it on the floor!] The man deserves whatever punishment he gets if you ask me. The lashes should only be part of it. How about a hefty fine, too? Maybe even some jail time.

Smoking at the mall? No problem. Harass the women at the mall and if you get caught you'll get 75 lashes and 4 months of jail. Perhaps it does seem a bit harsh, but apparently this young man had been given "repeated warnings" for harassing women at the mall and signed a pledge not to do it again. He just wouldn't listen!

Interesting. There has been another fire in a girls' school. Am I the ONLY one to think it is just a bit odd that ONLY the girls' schools are involved in a "recent spate of fires?" Nothing to see here, folks. Move along...

On Sunday I blogged about the 40-year-old woman who had escaped from jail with only five months of her sentence left to serve. She was arrested yesterday after being caught in a "sting operation."

Deportation, Divorce and Dogs

No indication, but for one, of what these 400 Indian expats did that they are in jail awaiting deportation. In the single instance described, an unidentified man says that he ended up in the deportation center because his visa agent cheated him. [You don't honestly think that the visa agent is sitting in jail somewhere, for fraud or whatever he did to cheat someone out of a visa, do you?] Imagine the outcry that would be heard the world-over if there were 400 Saudis in jail awaiting deportation in the United States! There is the usual finger-pointing that it is the fault of Indian embassy authorities who say it is the fault of Saudi authorities. It is a never-ending vicious cycle. Another man, inmate Ramzan Ali, has been waiting to be repatriated since the beginning of the year - sitting in jail in a "constricted cell" for ten months... No, it is not called a jail or prison, it is called a Deportation Center, but the pretense is the same. You are locked up and you cannot leave. Call it whatever you want...

In yesterday's paper there is an article about the mess a non-Saudi woman is in now that her Saudi husband has divorced her. The woman who has five children - one a baby who is still nursing - has virtually NO standing, here, whatsoever, and she will very likely have to leave the Sandbox without them. Divorce laws, here, as I have been able to understand, are written with prejudice to ALL women. The woman doesn't receive alimony or child support - there is no need to receive child support since it is typically the man who gets custody of the children. A deportation order has been issued and as soon as her lawsuit to gain custody of at least three of her children - the baby and two youngest - is settled she will need to leave if she cannot find another sponsor to hold the paperwork that would allow her to stay in the country. The National Society of Human Rights is supporting her in her fight to gain custody of ALL of her children, "especially since her ex-husband's new wife is mistreating them." How many stories have we read about the horrific abuse children, here, suffer at the hands of their wicked stepmother's? Let's just hope that this woman is successful in her plight.

This is worrisome to me. Pets, in my opinion, should NEVER be fashion accessories and I see this as a "fad" which will be short-lived and then there will be dogs and cats and rabbits and birds released into the "wild," with no means of being able to fend for themselves. Truly I hope that I am proved very wrong about this, but I just don't think so... [Wait a minute! Weren't dogs as pets banned not too long ago because authorities, here, felt that too many people were trying to emulate Westerner's???]

Well, it's about damn time!

HB13 got his iqama yesterday. The document that allows him to work. I don't know how long he had been without it, but I know we got home from the States on September 3rd and when I called him shortly after our return, he was waiting to get his papers and said he would call me as soon as he got them. Finally, Inom [I called him Inam the whole time he worked for me - his uncle, Appuk is my gardener and set me straight on his name - habit forces me to call him Inam] called last night - while I was still sitting at the table with the women from my volunteer group arguing discussing the need for hiring an outside accountant to try to make sense of the books which are fubar'd.* Inom was willing to start work this morning, but I knew I had to work at our "volunteer" retail shop from 8:30 to noon, so I asked him to come Wednesday morning at 7 so we can discuss things, first.

A houseboy again! Yey!!! I won't have to spend time cleaning bathrooms, and scrubbing floors and dusting or vacuuming. Happy, happy, happy. And I'm sure Inom is happy, too. I doubt very much he is happy about having to come back to work for one of the most difficult women on this compound to work for, but happy at the prospect of once again having the ability to earn an income. Especially since he has been sitting in his room since at least the first week in September waiting to get papers that he didn't get until yesterday - October 27th - it took at least eight weeks. Trust me - he hasn't left his room. If he would have gotten caught out on the street "walking without papers" he'd have been thrown in jail until he could come up with his fine [some astronomical amount he would never be able to come up with] and then he would have been deported. That is how it works, here.

Inom has had absolutely no ability to earn any money during the time he has been sitting in his room which was a situation totally out of his control. Does it really take some "official" eight weeks to produce the documentation to give some man who has come from another third world country to work? No. It doesn't. [My DH has to get his iqama renewed every year and it takes all of 24 to 48 hours!] Inom has had to cancel his vacation - and will not see his family for at least another year. He cannot afford to travel home. He is not the only one who has gone without money - his family, who depends on him to send his meager monthly remittances home has likely not seen any money for at least two months, either. Unfortunately he is not going to get rich off of me - I hope that the other families he was working for prior to his needing to get his iqama renewed have kept his job open for him. Inom and I have a difficult time communicating as he speaks limited English. He told me, when I called him back last night, that he will work for me first for whatever hours I want and whatever days I want. I am happy to have the choice of what hours he is going to work for me. Originally I thought he was going to have to work in the afternoons - which was okay, but since I "work" [sit next to the pool] in the afternoon I wasn't thrilled. Now, I have the option of choosing his hours and I am going to have him come from 7A to 10A or 11A, four mornings a week. Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday and Wednesday. This house is going to shine! It will be so clean you will, literally, be able to eat off the floors. Although, I must say, I've actually done a very good job keeping it that way on my own, but there are a lot of things I haven't done... Do not look up when you walk down the hall - no one has vacuumed the air conditioning vent in a very long time!

The reason I let Inom go originally had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn't doing a good job. He does, in fact, do an excellent job. But I made the mistake of paying him hourly so he had no incentive to move any quicker than a snail in a coma. Not this time. Salary. I know what I expect to get done every day. He can get it done in three hours - or four. His choice. He will not get paid any more if it takes him five hours! Yes. I do expect him to move. I can clean an entire bathroom - and I have some pretty exacting specifications - in forty-five minutes. There is no reason whatsoever it should take an hour and a half. Unless you are getting paid hourly. I will not make that mistake. And, it is not just inside housework that I want him to do. The patio furniture needs cleaned regularly. The windows have not been done in several months - oh sure, I've taken Windex and a paper towel to them to get rid of the Kids' slobber marks - but they have not been done on the outside since I eliminated HB15. More importantly is the issue with the Kids. I realize that not everyone is a four-legged Kid lover like I am. I am not asking Inom to "love" my Kids. I am, however, insisting that he tolerate them. He does not have to pet them and hug them. I don't expect anyone but me - or DH - to give them actual physical attention and affection. But, he has had some issues in the past with the Kids and that will be cause for instant termination. I will make that very, very clear tomorrow morning.

I am just happy that I finally have a houseboy again! This past two months without one has made me realize how much I really, really need want one and I just don't know how anyone can exist without one...

*fubar - fucked up beyond all recognition

Locally...

There is a "Move to ban underage marriages" here, in the Sandbox. The voice of sanity may just prevail... Certainly we cannot expect that any law in this respect will be readily accepted as the societal norms which are embedded in the culture are not likely to be surrendered without struggle. That the issue is even on the proverbial table is a start, though. Baby steps...

Perhaps this man was simply looking for a wife. The girls were in high-school, so even if a new law is passed making the minimum age fourteen, if you are in high-school you are probably old enough.

Are adolescent boys' voices so high-pitched that they can pose as women in telephone conversations? Apparently they are.

You can either pull a "Casey Anthony," or you can set your toddler down by the side of the road. At some point, the result is going to be the same no matter which option you choose. See a "snapshot," here.

A 40-year-old woman has escaped from jail. The report in today's Arab News indicates that "The escape was well planned... the woman might have been assisted by a prison guard." This is something I have not given any thought at all to, here, but are there MEN guarding WOMEN in jails? And, if there are men guarding women in jails, here, wouldn't that be just slightly contradictory to all that is practiced in keeping the sexes separated? The article also says, "The woman, who was sent to jail on a conviction relating to drugs, had only five months left to serve. She had previously escaped from a juvenile home in Riyadh." How long was her jail sentence? Assume that she was sent to the "juvenile home" when she was 18 [and that, in my opinion, is pushing the age to the max for a "juvenile"]. She is 40 now. Has she been in jail for 22 years and completely thrown freedom to the wayside when her sentence would be complete with just another five months left to serve? Did she want to remain in jail for the rest of her life? Why else would anyone try to escape after 22 years in jail with only five months of their sentence remaining???

On a much more serious note, in this article, Dr. Ahmed A. Audhali says that "delays in deciding labor cases in the Kingdom concerning monetary claims and restoration of rights of foreign workers is creating a bad image for the country. [Ya think?!?] It is disgraceful seeing many labor cases filed by expatriate workers getting dragged for months because of bureaucratic red tape and delays in decisions. Workers with labor cases filed in labor courts are being thrown on the street [or in jail!], becoming liabilities instead of being productive. In a number of instances, claimants for renumeration die before they even get the fruit of their toils." [Emphasis, mine.] Where are the like-attitudes of this man?!?

If Dr. Audhali isn't already worthy of applause for those statements, he goes on: "The judges who sit in labor courts decide on the weight of the evidences presented by both sides - that of the employer and the worker. In the process the employers get the upper hand in convincing the judges to render judgment in their favor because the poor workers are not properly represented. Oftentimes labor disputes drag on for months because employers put up conditions and excuses just to delay the cases. Workers suffer much because of the delays in rendering judgment, and this is precisely one of the critical issues why the image of the country before the eyes of labor exporting countries is not that positive."

Dr. Ahmed A. Audhali, you are deserving of more than just applause. You are worthy of repeated standing ovations!!!