At this point in my day, there is nothing really exciting to post about, but I thought since I had the time I would anyway. Its amazing how I can kill a dead horse. I have absolutely nothing to say today, yet I log on and write a whole lot of nothing. But then again, what is something? Would that be if I had got to do all sorts of fun and exciting things? I guess so, but I guess this whole converstaion about writing nothing is pretty relative, because what is nothing? What a goof… On with this post!

I had a couple of people ask how I got here, so I thought I would do a little recap- now THATs something (not really). This can get confusing, so I apologize for the everything that makes absolutely no sense. There are a lot of things that should probably go in the middle too, like cry fests, and getting mad, and a ton of other things- you can look in the archives or just insert whatever emotion you see fit and you’d probably be right! Anyway…

The May after Will and I got married, my dad left for Kuwait (as a side note, there is a pretty funny running out of gas story that happened that day I’ll have to tell sometime). It was a one year contract with the option of renewing. In November, my dad just kind of jokingly threw out the idea of all of us moving over there. He broke down what we could make and save and this and that and we just kind of talked about it without much real thought. He came home for Christmas prepared. He brought all of this recruiting stuff and a TON of information. It was overload. I think all of the information made me more scared to go than excited ( ha ha, and 6 months later here I am). That sort of got the ball rolling in our heads about going over. Will and I were having a really hard time where he was working, and we knew that once I was graduated he was going to leave anyway- so why not make a huge change now when we didn’t really have anything holding us back.?

My sister was on board from the get go. In fact, her persuasiveness and prodding was what got us really truly thinking about the possibilities of going over there. She and my mom went over there during Spring Break to check out the school she would go to and meet people at the company and stuff. They came back totally excited about the opportunity, and a few days later my mom got a job. I was pretty upset at first because I thought that my whole family would be thousands of miles away, while Will and I were still in Oklahoma. I was disappointed because they would miss my graduation, and they were leaving with very little notice- they had to be in Kuwait 3 weeks later!

We ended up turning in our resume in March as well, but didn’t hear anything until the beginning of April. I felt a lot better knowing that we were all going to be over there, and my dad would be able to help us get adjusted. We found out in early April that Will got a job and that they needed us there in 30 days from the day of contact, which put us in Kuwait on May 11. It was a mess. Between finals, selling our house, and packing… it was quite an experience and I do not want to move again once we get back! We were only allowed 2 suitcases and a carry on each, and we could ship up to 100 pounds that the company would pay for. After that we had to pay for everything. It was really hard trying to figure out what would stay and what would go. Packing my whole life in a few boxes was really weird. The apartments we live in are furnished, so it wasn’t like we were going to need a lot of household type stuff, but it was mostly, “Okay does the wedding album stay or go...” just more sentimental stuff. Plus a ton of clothes, shoes, towels...I became a pro packer. You can roll ANYTHING into the size of a baseball!

So, we packed everything up, stuck a for sale sign on our condo, and headed to Kuwait for the change of our lives!

Like I said, there is probably a 5 minute monologue that should go in the middle, along with some more clarifying information, but gosh that would take forever. I hope at least that kind of gives you an idea how we ended up in the hottest place on earth. Things are SO different here, yet at the same time, things are a lot alike.

Anyway, so there is my post of nothing but confusion. Thanks for listening and have a nice day.

Have there ever been times in you life when you thought it would be fun to live in a different time period? I love history and am always thinking what it might have been like to live in the “old“ days. I used to think it would be so fun to live in England a few hundred years ago, all of the romanticism and excitement…

Well today I think I changed my mind.

I did a little time travel of my own today, and I will be just fine in 2005.

I am officially convinced I never would have cut it 300 years ago. This morning we went to bible study. The lesson was almost a foretelling of the events to follow. It was about rejoicing in all circumstances. Had I known how much “rejoicing” I would have been doing a couple of hours later I would have taken better notes!

We stopped by Johnny Carinos for lunch and headed home a little after noon. It was about 110 outside. We try to use our electronic key at the gate and it won’t work. Hmm. That’s odd. So we try again to no avail. The guard comes and opens the door for us. We approach the door and see no lights on downstairs. Hmm. That’s strange. We go in and do not feel the oh so welcoming usual cool breeze that blows directly on your sweat as it evaporates (lovely visual, huh?)...instead we feel what we feel outside- hot.

Apparently the power had gone off an hour earlier and since Friday is their holy day, there weren’t sure how long it would be before it would be fixed. A man that has lived there for about a year said this was the third time this has happened. The first time they were without power for 6 hours in the dead of summer. REJOICE!

We had a few cold things we had gotten on the way home, so Will and my dad treked upstairs to drop it off. Poor guys. My mom, sister, and I parked it on the downstairs couch and practiced our most statuesque pose. I guess its a mind thing that if you do not move you will be cooler- this does not work after about 105 degrees. I took my shoes off and felt the tile, ahhhh. I was so close to just lying on the ground because of how good the floor felt when my dad was like, “We are going someplace with AC.“ REJOICE.

I am miserable by this point. I have the underarm sweat going on, which I loathe and am just hating my situation. “At least we can REJOICE that we have air in the car,“ Will says cheerfully. I wanted to scream at that point, but I refrained.

So we ended up going to the grocery store going up and down the aisles buying things we didn’t have room for in our tiny kitchen. And again, I was tempted to just lie down right in the middle of the frozen food section. This weather is out of control. I can’t even imagine it getting hotter.

So, on the way home I got to thinking. I could never have lived here a hundred years ago. I can’t even imagine how miserable life would have been without AC. I guess we are pretty spoiled. We got to the apartment and the powee had returned. I think we all let out a heartfelt REJOICE when we saw lights. We got to our place, and since our AC froze yesterday it is still a little weak. Because of this minor problem I felt it was only fitting and finally appropriate for me to lie on the tile. It felt amazing.

It was my first real taste of what life would have been like in Kuwait in 1750. I sure am rejoicing for 2005.

<3

Land Ho!

Finally, home at last. Today was the big exciting, “you’re gonna meet a lot of people” boat trip. Right. Sure. Whatever. It turned out okay.

I am convinced Kuwait is the dirtiest place on earth. Seriously. First of all because the nationals just throw their trash all over the place because the TCNs (third country nationals) will pick it up. It is really trashy in some parts.

Secondly, because of the smog, pollution and most of all dirt that sits all over the country. This month starts the dirt months- like 4 months of dirt all in the air constantly. Dirt is everywhere- even weird places. I took a bowl out of the cupboard the other day and it had a little film of dirt… It’s just a strange thing. You can’t even see a mile in front of you because the sand just sits like a dense fog. Anyway- this is what we were all covered in after today’s trip.

I had sand caked in my hair, all over my lips… it was so very glamourous.

Today’s trip was okay, but I“m not convinced it was the way I wanted to a day off with Will. It was hellishly hot, which as some of you know puts me in a foul disposition. I should have known today was going to be long when our air conditioner froze up and I got in the shower and accidentally used conditioner in my hair instead of shampoo- such beautiful and shiny hair. Gross. The story of my life.

Anyway, the trip to the island was almost cancelled. The water was very choppy. White caps where everywhere. The captain said we would be okay- and for that I want to grab him and shake him and make him walk the plank. If I ever have kids I will never buy them a flippin’ rocking cradle. I felt like a tall baby in the boat today. Its like each of us returned to childhood this afternoon. People were puking, mumbling things that made no sense… the rocking was out of control. As I sit here and write this I still feel like I am dipping down into the ocean. Anyway, it was a 2 hour ride. About an hour in the water started to smooth out and it was really enjoyable. We sat outside and saw the pretty water and the breeze really cut the smoldering heat. It turned out nice. The boat stopped on the island and everyone got off. P and I opted to stay in the airconditioned boat, but we got bored real quick and took the little shuttle boat to the island. It was so much fun! I wish we would have went earlier and stayed longer. It was really nice. It was nothing at all what we had envisioned. I was thinking palm trees- like a scene from the show Lost. Ha. It wasn’t too impressive but nonetheless still fun. It was just a chunk of sandy land with this huge cell phone tower right in the middle. I guess its nice to know that if you get stranded now a days, you’re just a phone call away to safety! Why don’t they tell the people on Survivor that!

We got back on the boat and that was the best part of the day. IT was so relaxing. We just sat outside, in the middle of this horrible dust and relaxed. ( I don’t think you notice how dusty it is until you realize you can’t see things half a mile away) It felt cool because of the breeze and we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. It turned out to be an okay day.

I’m not so sure Will had a great time, but I can totally understand why. Everyday is like a weekend for me, but weekends to Will are very precious. It is the only time he has to relax- and its probably not the most relaxing thing taking a hot and sandy boat trip with your bosses. We still had a good time together though.

Anyway, I’m am quite a mess- I have yet to take a shower. don’t worry, I’ll check the bottle this time- SHAMPOO!!

My sister and I had a good laugh today. We created our own goofy reality show called 2,000 A Day.

We were in the kitchen having sharing a package of pop tarts talking about how much we needed to eat healthier and start working out again (ironic since we are eating a package of oh so healthy pop tarts). This has been the basis of our entire relationship the last month I have been here. Since its been a few months since my surgery I can start working out about 30 minutes each day, so we agreed that is how we would start out.  So we finished our breakfast and decided that it was really dumb to share a package of pop tarts because they have a million calories in one and you are still left hungry. So we just made small talk in the kitchen for a few minutes and then were like, “okay lets just go ahead and eat something, dang it.” So we carefully weighed our options:

*We could split another “healthy” package of pop tarts and eat nothing until lunch

*We could stop where we were and have a healthy mid morning snack (it was 5 when we had breakfast, so our bodies seem to think its lunchtime at 10 in the morning)

Well, today we decided to keep “runnin’ with the fat girls” as my sister says. So we ravenously opened our second package of pop tarts and attacked them like we hadn’t eaten in a month. I told my sister when we were done, “ Okay, this is what we are going to do. I am going to close the door to the kitchen and lock it. Then I am going to hide the key so you we can’t get in. I will be the caretaker of the key today, and you can be the one to hide it tomorrow.” We both died laughing. She was like, “This could be a reality show. If you end up finding the key and getting into the kitchen, you have to cut your calorie intake in half the next day.” We had a good laugh. I guess you had to be there because it just doesn’t do the story justice in writing. I promise, it was really funny…

Well since we are on the subject of food, I almost died the other day when I was looking at our grocery bill. We went for just a few odds and ends. A recipe I wanted to make called for cheddar cheese soup, which of course they didn’t have. So my mom thought maybe we could try it with cheese whiz (I promise, we don’t always eat unhealthy- you probably think I sit around and eat chocolate frosting on crackers all day or something- I promise I don’t J). So we ended up getting it and I didn’t even think anything about it. Well when I checked the bill I saw how much the stinkin’ thing cost us! That jar must be considered a holy treasure or something because in US dollars it was 9 bucks! What a rip off. I never thought processed calorie packed cheese would require a loan. J

Okay, off with the food talk. Will and I went to the movie store to buy some more movies, and boy was that an adventure. I always thought that now that my sister and I were here all day we could venture to the beach across the street or down to the movie store- just as long as we didn’t go too far… ha ha yeah right. I was totally freaked out last night. My mom told us she thought the place was only about a block away so we thought we would just go ahead a walk since it was so close and parking in this country requires an entirely separate post. So we start walking… and walking… turns out it was not just a block away. On the way there, there was a car full of guys that pulled over next to us when we were walking and just came almost to a stop and just slowly followed us as we were walking. I was freaking out- but it gets even better. THEN a little white car jumps the curb where we are walking and just sits there, watching us in his rear view mirror. He just sits there until we walk past him and then he follows us on the curb for a while and then drives off. Guys- I am totally adding that to the list of the top 5 scariest moments in my life. Crime is really low because you can get body parts chopped off and stuff, but I still felt nervous. This lady I interned with back home lived in Saudi Arabia when she was a teenager and she told me that the guys there think totally different then they guys back home. Their minds are just totally different. I guess she was right. We’ve been out several times in public, but that has never happened. I think since we were walking on a busy street, just the two of us, maybe it was different. Kuwait is considered the most liberal country in the middle east, and many Arab women don’t even wear the full abbaya when then go out, but I think I might get at least the veil part if I’m going to go anywhere alone. I guess P and I won’t be going anywhere alone during the summer that’s for sure!

I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but the highlight of my day will be getting my stray eyebrows ripped out… Ahh the excitements of being a unwilling stay at home wife.

It is funny to think about the things I look forward to now that I am locked in the apartment all day. Things I used to hate I embrace at the drop of a hat. Bring on the threads(that is their way of waxing)! I’m ready for clean brows. Grocery shopping on pay day during the busiest hour? Count me in! Sitting in 3 hours of traffic- where can I sign up?

Will and I bought the movie Duplex the other day- it is hilarious. I have seen it a few times before yet I still manage to laugh so hard I cry. I think it totally bombed at the box office, and everyone I know thats seen it besides me and Will think its dumb- but seriously, it’s great.  I think it is even funnier now that Will and I are living with my parents. Our current situtaion made me laugh even harder this time around. I can totally relate to the character’s need for alone time without their neighbor being there. C’est la vie… at least for the moment anyway.

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Well I did get some pretty discouraging news about my job situation a little bit ago. I guess the HR lady found out about the whole law thing and wrote my dad a letter basically saying she wouldn’t hire me because it’s “hard enough trying to get women under 26 hired, let alone someone thats 22.“ I guess her letter was a little tacky, but whats done is done and I don’t want to see it. So that was a pretty big blow to me. She and my dad have had some issues over the past year (which didn’t help me out), so I was disappointed to find out about this email. I know I can’t take what she said personal but it is hard not to. Its REALLY hard not to.

How frustrating. I feel like I’m back to square one. My dad emailed me about another place to apply thats pretty good opportunity too and even pays most of their employees better than where Will works. I just don’t know though. I know Will would probably want me to apply just because that is our goal- to pay things off and save money- but I don’t know what to do.

I am too sensitive about this whole thing I guess. People go through this every day. I guess since its my first time to be in the “real world,“ I’m getting first hand experience about the things I’ve heard about but never felt or dealt with.

So that threw a curve ball in my day and bummed me out. I wish I could do what Will tells me and “be a duck.“ Just let it all roll off my back, but that is just not in my personality. I feel upset because I know I would do a great job there and I feel like I’m being rejected. I guess I am, but so have many other young pups just like me who entered the work force with bright eyes just knowing everything would go their way only to be shot down a time or two.

I just have to give everything over to God right now- not having our own place, not having a job… just everything and trust that His plan is so much better than Brittny’s

So, not that I’ve vented I feel a little better and am just goingto have to remind myself constantly to take one day at a time… bring on the eyebrow lady.

<3

No cake or premeditated assult talk today, just me and my crazy overthinking and overanalyzation of EVERYthing!

I wont lie, today’s blog is going to be long. I can compare it to my last semester of college when I had to read 10 grueling chapters of international politics the night before the final. Do you see where we are going with this post?

So, now that I’ve warned the world about my long post and have permitted myself to write as write as much as I want, I have no idea where to begin! The thoughts are there, but all jumbled. Its amazing that I went to college to learn how to talk to people, but there are times when I feel like I am speaking an entirely different language! (especially with guys, ie: Will)

I’m in a predicament that needs an unbiased outsiders opinion…

I believe networking can be absolutely crucial when trying to get a job, especially a first “real“ job. Like everyone else, I think its important to put your best foot forward and develop relationships with those you may work for some day. However, I always get a little hacked when I see people get things just because of who they are. I know that is how things are done sometimes, be it right or wrong, but I always frown on it.

My family has been totally encouraging during my sit around the house all day and watch reruns of everything that flopped in the States time. My dad always keeps an ear out for new job postings and has submitted my resume to a couple to people a while back. My dad and I are a lot alike in the sense that we want to do everything “by the books-“ no special treatment, so I told him not to really push people about my working there to the point they get irritated.

When we got over here, Human Resources told my dad that they don’t hire any married woman under the age of 23 because it is a Kuwaiti law. What a mess. So I am sitting here thinking I will be a barefoot, in a moo-moo, curlers in my hair, eating gobs of peanut butter on double stuff oreos until my next birthday (I was pretty dramatic when we found out). Well, to be sure, my dad called a lawyer that works at the embassy just so we would know, and so I could look elsewhere if it were true. Well, it turned out that it wasn’t a law at all and just sort of something that the company has adopted over the years. They have been through so many different people that it just became “law“ over time.

Well, my dad wrote a letter to a lady in HR just to let her know that I was in the country (which makes everything a lot easier) and available to work. I guess that made her mad and she wrote my dad back and said he was showing favortism and this and that. It wasn’t the case at all. There were no innuendos (or however you spell that) or anything that should have caused her to get mad. It just said that I was living here and if she needed to hire anyone, he had my resume. But anyway…

Having the information from the lawyer has opened a whole other can of worms because I really don’t want my dad to go to the head of HR and tell her that they are wrong and its not a law and blah blah blah (not that he would do that, its just a fear I guess). I just don’t want to be seen as the boss’ daughter who got a job because of him. Nothing has happened to give truth to my feelings, but I’m sure people on the other may feel otherwise. I have this fear that when I do get a job I will be walking into it with people upset at me. Am I making any sense at all!? I hope so. There are a lot of things that probably need to go in the middle, but I don’t want to get even more confusing.

Okay, all of that mess leads me to my current situation. My dad is one of the managers at the company where everyone (my family) works. Every month the managers plan a get together for the wives and their families. Well, my dad signed Will and I up to go along. They are taking a boat trip out to this small island for the day. The guys are going to fish, and the ladies are going to do whatever “grown-up“ ladies do. It sounds like it would be a good chance to get out and see stuff, but I just don’t know about going. Everyone that is going is really nice (or so I’ve hear) and have been asking about me, and all of the people that I am paranoid will dislike me won’t be there anyway. I think it would be a really good time fore me to meet the other managers and give them a person to put with the resume, but I’m just unsure.

One of the guys my dad works with has a daughter that is my age that works for another company in Kuwait. She is going too. It would be so nice to have a friend here, which is another reason I would like to go.

I guess that is my situation. Do I want to get on the boat or remain a land lover this weekend? I think- just from sitting here and getting all of my feelings out- that I am leaning towards going. People are going to think what they want no matter what. Plus my mom and Will both work at the same company and no one has said anything to them besides a few jokes to my mom about my dad having wasta (Kuwaiti word for power). I worry and overanalyze everything (as if you didn’t already know).

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Assuming you are not crying tears of boredom or nodding off, I am going to go on to my next subject! I put up some pics of my first few weeks in Kuwait! I was really excited about getting them. You’ll have to go check them out and see what I see everyday. There are NO camels in these pictures! In fact, I haven’t seen a camel since I’ve been here. I think they are all out in the desert. I’ve heard they have camel races somewhere in the city, which I think would be kind of cool to go see. I though I got more pictures of the interesting Kuwait scenery than I actually did, so next time I will have to try and get more of those.

Ahhh, on to the lighter side of my life. Before we moved I was addicted to the Food Network. It was my favorite channels (goofy, I know). I haven’t quite figured out why I enjoy watching people cook things that I never will, but there is something mesmerizing about the whole process (this is coming from the girl that has literally cooked a cookbook- I’m not lying) So, I have convinced myself I love cooking and have the potential to be a good cook. I decided that despite the fact that I am an unwilling “SAHW,” I should sieze the opportunity and become a better cook (Scary thought). I think (and my family would probably agree) that I have been promoted from “rookie” status to rookie in waiting.

Yesterday I made a really yummy dinner that I want to share! For all of you almost professional cooks this is just boxed mac and cheese or something, but I was still excited that Will liked it. He is always encouraging with my cooking but also honest. He will always tell me what he thinks about my cooking when I ask- which has probably gotten him in trouble with me from time to time. Will is a really picky eater and he loved dinner last night, so that was a plus. He even said he wanted me to make it again for his birthday- this is coming from the guy that is addicted to eating out.  These chicken and rice burritos are soooo easy (I made it for cryin’ out loud) and they sit in the crockpot all day which is another plus. Here it is:

*1 pound of skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

*1 can of green enchilada sauce

*1 large green pepper cubed

* about 3 tablespoons of water

* 2 cups of instant rice

* 1 small onion chopped (I’m not a big onion fan so I used the minced flakes)

*tortillas

*whatever else you like on burritos- we used sour cream, cheese, and tomatos

* Place the chopped onion and pepper at the bottom of crockpot. Add water. Place chicken on top and pour the enchilada sauce over everything. Cook on low 6-7 hours. 5 minutes before serving, add rice (it should absorb all of the liquid and cook up fast). Serve with tortillas and toppings!

What a Martha Stewart! bet you didn’t guess I’d throw in a recipe today. Thanks for working through my many thoughts today! Hope your Monday is a lot less complicated than this post!

The other day my mom, sister, and I were sharing a piece of carrot cake that we had gotten after lunch. This cake is my sole focus. It has my full attention. Nothing is going to get in the way of me and this cake. I turn into an entirely different person when it comes to sharing dessert. The lion in me comes out. It’s like an aniamal eating her young or something- you may see me on Animal Planet one day. Its like I have a time limit or something, and I not only have to eat the fastest but I have to eat the most. It’s quite entertaining for onlookers I would imagine. The way I see it, everyone is on their own when it comes to sharing a dessert in this family.

So I’m elbowing my sister for more fork room and proceed to tell them how great cream cheese frosting is on carrot cake. I then go on this two minute tangent about how every year Brian (Will’s brother) has a red velvet cake for his birthday and how great cream cheese frosting is on red velvet cake. “Everytime I eat it I sit and try to figure out what flavor red velvet is. I just can never figure it out!”

My mom and sister simultaneously put their fork down, look at eachother, and start laughing. “It’s chocolate cake with red food coloring, britt!” No way! It can’t be! I never think,” This tastes like chocolate” when I eat red velvet. Will someone help me decipher the flavors I experience! AGH!

So anyway, when Will gets home my mom tells me to go ask him (who has no concept of cooking) what red velvet is. “Chocolate cake with lots of red food coloring.”

I feel so deceived! What’s up with that!? What’s the point? You add a fancy name and red food coloring to a simple chocolate cake and it becomes an entire different entity!

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Anyway, I didn’t feel like creating a whole new post for the unexciting events to proceed, so I thought I would just attach them to my ramblings of cream cheese frosting and superficial chocolate cake.

We didn’t end up going to the Contiki because it opened at 7 and we were hungry by 5:30. We ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the coolest I had ever seen. Its an all glass pyramid, so you have an incredible view no matter where you are. Its right on the gulf, so it was really pretty.

Friday wasn’t much more eventful. My mom ended up having to work because her boss had a heart attack , so it was a lazy day. It was “take your family to work day” for me! Ha Ha. They were able to see all of the exciting and wonderful things I do while I am here “at work” and they are gone (really working).

I am bracing myself for my little sister’s finale to school and her constant company this summer. This sounds silly, but I have a system and schedule down while I sit here and do nothing and wait for a job. I have a feeling my system is going to need a little tweaking with her here… a LOT of tweaking I should say. I think my whole plan is going out the window as we speak.

She is my best friend. I’ve known her her entire life for cryin’ out loud! However, I have a feeling we are going to kill eachother. I forsee many entertaining blogs on the way about being locked in an apartment with my 15 year old sister. Cabin Fever in the air? I think it’s already hit. Hard.

I am already having visions of the many arguments we will have over the computer- our only access to outside life form! I wouldn’t even know people live in Kuwait if it wasn’t for going out on the weekends! Computer sharing will be interesting.  I think it is going to become the thorn in our sides. Shes already made comments about being on it all day, so it am biting my tounge. For now blood in my mouth is better than her blood on the floor. I hope its not that bad. I like my sister and would feel bad about locking her on the balcony so I can maintain my schedule. ha ha

Enough about my uneventful past few days.

I got my pictures developed and they turned out great! My dad is going to scan them for me today, so I should have them up tomorrow or the day after!

Better get going. Happy Saturday. <3

Yesterday turned out to be a good day and a nice start to our weekend.

My mom had the day off because they changed up her schedule this week, so that was nice. She recently got her license over here so we were able to get out and about.  We picked my sister up early from school and went out to lunch. Afterwards, we went to the Sultan Center, similar to Walmart, and did some grocery shopping. There were a lot of westerners there, so it was nice. It just feels more like home when you get a friendly hello from a westerner. My mom says that most of them get up really early on Thursday or Friday (our weekend) and go grocery shopping to beat the rush (which is when my parents usually go), so she was surprised to see so many people out.

My mom did a good job driving- we didn’t even get lost! It is very easy to get lost here because very few roads are marked. You want to know something else really strange? They don’t have a phonebook! Talk about going crazy! I have no access to any phone numbers here. You want to find a doctor or make a hair appointment or call for pizza? Good luck. You just have to hope your heiress (kind of like a apartment concierge) has a good list of numbers. Anyway, I got a little sidetracked, moving on…

Will got home later that afternoon and we were able to sit and just talk about how I was feeling. He really needs my support during this time- hes working really long hours, away from his family, etc.- and I haven’t really been sensitive to that. It will be a lot earier to spend time together once we get our own place, but that may take longer than we expected. One good thing is that Will got his license yesterday, so going on dates and just being together on weekends will be a lot easier. I felt a lot better after we laid everything on the table and I listened to how I could be a better encourager about the things we can’t change (like living with my parents and the lack of time to ourselves).

Today was a lazy day. We got Showtime, which is like a better cable network here. It can’t be much worse, thats for sure. They have the BBC food channel and E!, so I am thinking I hit the jackpot. I finished my book. It turned out to be pretty good. I think I will get a few more online and hope the shipping doesn’t take forever.

I think we are going to go to the Contiki tonight( I have no idea how to spell that). It is a fancy Polynesian place. Its in one of the hotels here. Its a part of this awesome wooden ship. I guess Kuwait is or was (I’m not really sure) famous for making huge wooden ships. Our restaurant isn’t in the ship, but I’m hoping to get to go in and check it out.

I’m not really sure what the plan is for tomorrow. Hal, the man who leads my parent’s bible study, mentioned changing things up for a while. I guess everyone that goes to the study but our family is going to work 12 hour days 7 days a week until Camp Doha is closed. The closing of Camp Doha is a REALLY long story. In short: after the Gulf War, the US agreed to keep their base open there for 10 years. The contract will be up at the end of this year and the Kuwaitis do not want to renew it because it is on a really lucrative piece of land- a port that they are hoping to turn into a hub. They want to develop one of the islands off the coast into a major tourist spot- kind of like Dubai- that premits drinking and gambling, etc. (which is ironic since their government is adamantly against those things). Anyway, Doha is going to be the hub for boats to take people to and from the island. So, everyone is having to move to other camps in Kuwait. Now, why did I feel the need to write all of that whey I really only had the intention of talking about a hiatus on Bible study? Who knows.Anyway, I am hoping we will figure something out. I think it is good for us all to get together, just for accountability and time to be with friends.

No other exciting news to report (not that what I said was exciting by any means ). 

Guess I better get going for now- I think I am going to get my eyebrows threaded. Ever heard of it? Neither have I and I am terrified of what they are going to do. No one waxes here, so this thread thing will be interesting…

My roll of film is done, so I should get them developed and have some picture up by the middle of next week, that way people will believe me when I tell them its not all camels and dirt.

should probably put a disclaimer on this post before I begin: today’s thoughts are about 60% PMS emotion and about 40% true, deep down unwavering core feelings.

Having said that, I miss Will. Our life has been totally different than what we are used to. Back home, our schedule was something most couples dream of. Will had Friday off ,and I was done with my classes and work by 11 so we had the entire day to spend together. Then we had all of saturday, and even though church was considered work for Will, we still had the afternoons off together before we had to go back for evening service. I miss the convenience of meeting up for lunch and his ability to take an hour off here and there throughout the month. And who could forget our long evenings of guiltless TV watching and Madden playing.

I knew things would be different when we moved here- going from having something similar to a 3 day weekend at home to working 4 10 hour days and getting up at 3:45 to get ready for work. That’s a pretty different schedule than what we were used to.

Will and I got in a tiff the last few nights this past week because I feel like I never get to see him. Our schedule is like: he gets home close to 6, we eat, are up for about an hour and a half and try to be in bed by 8:30 or maybe 9. As I have referred back to DOZENS of times, I am a time person, and without going in to The Five Love Languages mechanics for the upteenth time, that is how I feel the most close to Will. So, time has become quite a precious commodity around here. We’ve talked about it a lot the last few days, and as usual, Will was right (I hate that). One of the biggest barriers to us functioniong somewhat normally is the fact that we are still living with my parents. Our time has to be shared and divided up among 3 other people besides just us. We eat together, watch TV together, Will goes to work with them each morning. On top of that, they are constantly talking about work since it is a commonality they share. That leaves P and I to make up stupid stories about saving women in burning buildings just so they will relax and stop with the work talk all of the time. We are constantly surrounded by my family, which makes alone time about as common as a sleeting day in Kuwait. I love my family and I am SO grateful for the way they have just let us camp out here right now, but I am ready for us to get our own place because I think that will greatly help with the few hours we are able to spend together.

I’m sorry for whining and “poor Brittny” talking, but this is quite a big change for me, and being alone all day in the same scenery has not helped (as a side note I started a great book by Taylor Smith called, Liars Market).

Thats it for now. Lucky for me, will gets off at 3 on wednesdays we we can get an early jump start on the weekend. Thanks for listening.

My life is full of embarrassing moments. Maybe I am even being too kind when I say embarrassing. I guess I should just call it like it is and tell you that I regularly have “blonde moments.”

Stop where you are, and don’t let your mind wander and think I am a ditz or not smart- I graduated cum laude (I don’t say that to be a pious snob, I say that so you really know that an “educated” person can consistently have these types of lapses ). So now you are probably like, “Okay, shes smart, but shes one of those that has NO common sense.” Its not really that either, I just have stupid moments sometimes I guess.

My life is full of moments when I will do something “blonde“ when I’m by myself and I just breathe a sigh of relief and think, “Thank God no one was in my presence. Talk about a ‘Jessica Moment’.“

Well, last night I had one of those moments. I obviously had the option of letting my family have a good laugh and then tell no one else (probably the better option), or tell my fellow Nest Bloggers about my silly moment. I guess I’m sharing…

Its always hard to write a funny moment, so I don’t know how this will go- there is no room for inflection or motions to explain things better… so if this story makes absolutely no sense, you can chalk it up to my Mrs. Hamlin, my 8th grade English teacher.

If I had to rank the times I have been most scared in the last 5 years, last night would have made the list.

It was about 12:30 at night, and Will and I had already been asleep for a few hours. Well, for some reason, I wake up and Will has his right arm (the arm closest to me) pointed in the air at about a 45 degree angle and is doing all of these crazy hand motions and number signs or something. By now, I’m wide awake and am asking Will what is going on. He tells me, “I have to see who else is up.“

“What do you mean Will?“

“I can’t tell you.“ So now I am totally disturbed.

“Why can’t you tell me?“

“Don’t worry about it. If it was important I would tell you.“

“Tell me, Will!“

“I can’t tell you. Don’t worry about it. Go to sleep.“

So, he then rolls over and goes to sleep. And I turn over and do the same....

Yeah right.

I sat up in bed against the headboard for almost 2 hours freaking out about our conversation. I was thinking all sorts of things like:

-Is our apartment monitored for safety? Have they seen everything I have done for the last 2 weeks ( so that sent me on a 20 minute tangent as I tried to retrace my every move for the last 2 weeks and think about what “they“ were able to see)

- I read an article on the plane over here about a business planting chips in people- have I seen any cuts or scratches on Will? Could that have happened??

-Does Will have a different job? Is he one of the people in the company that has to have a special security clearance? Is there something I don’t know?

For the sake of my dignity (it might be too late) I will stop there with all of the thoughts I was thinking. I assure you they got much worse. I watch and read WAY to many political thrillers. I had everyone in my family being brainwashed and… I’ll just stop there.

The next morning Will woke me up and I asked him what he was doing last night. He told me he was just dreaming. Since we have been married, there have been a few times when Will has talked in his sleep and done stuff (one night he jumped out of bed and told me there was a snake in the bed. AHH). I guess just being in a totally different environment made this sleeptalking escapade a little frightening. Plus, it was different then the other few.

So either my husband has strange dreams and feels the need to share them through his sleep with me by scaring me senseless… or he really is working for the CIA as a spy and has been brainwashed with an implanted chip....