Well my second full day here has been very uneventful. It was strange because I am used to having my weekend today, but today is their first working day. I think that will be something I will have to get used to because I kept thinking today was Monday! My parents and Will had to get up at 4 in the morning to go to work. That is soooo early. Since we are still living with my parents until we are able to go shopping and stuff, they had to drop him off at our apartment so Will’s boss could pick him up and take him to work (he thinks we are living there already). So I got up that early too, despite the poor nights sleep I had.

The day was very uneventful, but I am realizing that I really need to enjoy these lazy and “boring” days since before I know it I will have a real job with real hours and no summer vacations. :( My sister stayed home with me today so we just hung around the house since we can’t really go anywhere. We watched their HORRIBLE TV channels and talked and took a nap and made dinner. Talk about a very stressful and eventful day. I don’t know how I was able to handle all of the demands.

Will came home a little after 6 with my parents. He said he thinks he will like his new job. I hope so. I was really nervous about today for him. When he got home it was like the Spanish Inquisition because I had a million questions to ask him about his day and every single detail. I think its because I am here at home with nothing to do. Plus, when I finally do have to go live at our apartment in the next few days there is nothing at all to do. We have no computer and no cable. We have about 200 arabic channels, but their TV is really bad and mind numbingly boring.

I found out today that if I get hired for a job in the next couple of weeks it will still be a few more weeks on top of that because it takes a while to get a visa and all this other stuff, so that means I probably have at least another 3 weeks of boredom, especially when my sister goes back to school the day after tomorrow. I just have to keep telling myself to stay positive because as I said earlier I will miss these “puppy dog days,” as Will calls them.

Will is a Senior Recreation Specialist. Right now he works at Camp Doha, the main camp. However, it is preparing to close down and the military is going to give the land back to the Kuwaitis so most of the employees are going to Camp Araf Jahn, but I think Will is going to be working at Bureen- one of the SCORTCHING desert camps. He has about 15 TCNs that work for him and he is the youngest, so today his workers said they were going to call him Baby Boy. How funny. I think they will like Will and respect him because he is fair, and some others treat the TCNs really bad.

Today he had to do this gas mask drill that all new employees have to do for safety precautions. They put a gas mask on you and you have to wear it for 6 minutes and do all of these “exercises“ like turning your head from side to side and stuff to make sure it fits properly. I think I will freak out when I have to do that. Pretty crazy.

Anyway, so much has been going on these last few days, but at the same time, it’s been kind of slow. I have multitudes more to say, but I don’t want to dump all of this information and random thoughts in a single blog. Besides, what will I do when my sister goes to school and I am still at my parents’??

We made it! We had a CRAZY week leading up to getting here, but we made it with few problems.

Where do I start? I’ve been here 1 day and I have volumes I could write already about my new life. I have heard so much from my family before I came I felt like I had already lived there, but actually getting here and seeing everything for myself was a different experience!

Hmmm, so much to say so little time (it’s almost 1 in the morning here and being up this late isn’t going to help my jet lag)!

I’m experiencing a little bit of culture shock… Okay a LOT of culture shock. I’ve lived and visited overseas before, but no place I’ve been is like here. It’s totally different but at the same time similar to America. We got into Kuwait around 11 last night. It was so awesome to see the city at night. Everything is alive then. The Kuwaitis don’t get out much in the day because of the heat, so atlike 9:00 the city awakes and would be similar to our early evening in America. That is when people grocery shop and do their errands and stuff.

After we got our visas and had some help with our bags we went into the main airport area and it was like everyone stopped what they were doing and just started as my American family came up and hugged and greeted us. There are a lot of western employees that live here, but I still think blondes are a rarity, so it was awkward and I’ll have to get used to that (tonight we went to Applebees and this cute little girl and her brother followed us in and just looked at me and smiled and waved and then went back out. Not used to that…

We got our things last night and headed to my parent’s apartment. Guys, the driving is horrific. I’m not even joking. I thought California and Mexico was bad… this is like no other. You will be on a single lane ramp getting ready to merge onto the highway and three cars will be beside you in a SINGLE LANE merging ramp, and they cut you off and get antsy if you aren’t going fast enough and flash their lights and honk. It is very scary! I have issues driving in Oklahoma City, so driving here really terrifies me. Anyway, so that was an eye opener! My parent’s apartment is AWESOME! It has a beach view from their balcony. It is so pretty. We talked a little and found out more about what would happen in the next few days as Will gets ready to start work. Thursday and Friday is the weekend over here, so I keep thinking it’s Saturday night since my parent’s are off, but its not. Will’s first day is Saturday. I’m nervous for him, but also excited because I thinkw e will get to meet some nice people.

Today was an overwhelming day (I have a feeling I will feel like this for a while). We went down Gulf Road, which is like the “main“ and most popular strip in the city. We got to see all the beautiful houses and architecture, so that was nice. We ate breakfast at Ruby Tuesdays, which was really good. The “day Kuwait“ is much different from the “night Kuwait“ I quickly am learning from what my parents are telling me. The “caste“ system seems very prevalent here. There are divisions of people here and each get treated differently.

Kuwait Nationals: These people are rich. Really rich. A national has no reason to be poor if they are smart. They make a large monthly stipend just for being Kuwaiti. Even the kids do! My sister goes to school with kids who drive Bentley Continentals and Land Rovers like its no big deal. A lot of them don’t work because of the stipend, and if they do they own a business or work in government. You wouldn’t believe all of the Mercedes and Land Rovers and Porches I have seen on Gulf Road. They are like Neons or Cavaliers in America.

Western Employees (WEs): This is what my family (hopefully I will be soon too!). We are probably considered 2nd on the “food chain“ here. Most Kuwaitis are favorable towards us, especially those about 25 and older who remember the war. Some of the younger generation isn’t as friendly. There are a lot of WEs that live in Kuwait and do business like embassy stuff and military stuff. We (or at least the company my family works for) live in apartments spread throughout the entire city for free. They are already furnished which is nice too. Workers share a car with a few people they work with and don’t have to pay gas or maintenance or anything. We receive money each day on top of our wage as a living allowance, so a lot of people just try to live off of that and bank the rest. I really look forward to getting a job so we can save money. They only down part to working here is that they are 48 hour work weeks and a lot of the car pooling begins at 5 in the morning to get the long day started and to beat traffic.

Third Country Nationals (TCNs): This group breaks my heart. I have heard story after story from my parents about this group and I have teared up a few times for these people. There are several “sub-levels“ of this group, but I won’t get into all that. These people are mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh., and a few more places I can’t remember. They literally work as indentured servants. They work the “working class“ type jobs that Kuwaitis won’t work themselves. So, almost everywhere you do, it is not the nationals who help you, but the TCNs. A lot of these people have degrees but can’t get a good job in their own country so they will work here at McDonalds or some other restaurant and send money home to their families. One guy that works for my mom has a masters degree in computer science and is living this poor lifestyle just to have a job. They are bused in each morning and work 6 days a week. They get paid daily and in exchange for their wages they have to give the companies their passports and will get it back in the morning- so as you can see it’s like an indentured servant kind of system. They have little to eat and are housed in tiny apartments they share with lots of people.  They are really treated bad by a lot of people. My mom made brownies for her TCNs and they were so grateful. I am really going to strive to show them Jesus when I start working.

Kuwait is strange. I think they need a city planner. Its a pretty dirty country. The Kuwaitis throw large sums of trash everywhere because they know that eventually a TCN will pick it up. There are houses that take your breath away, and others you wince at.

Also, everything is under construction here, but you don’t know if it really is or not because they will start a project and just stop in the middle of it with a lot more to go and it will just sit there forever. There are still messes from the Gulf War. Crazy huh?!

So as for my first impression, it is very mixed. Theres some bad, but theres also some good. I guess that is everywhere you move. It is really strange being the minority here. You get a lot of strange looks, so that isn’t the greatest, but I am just going to have to learn to live with it.

Will and I got to see our aparment today. The outside of the building is really pretty and the foyer was really pretty too. Our place is REALLY small, but cute. We have all tile floors that get dirty again 5 seconds after you clean them. Our kitchen is really small. I MAYBE have 5 cabinets. And lucky me, I’M the dishwasher! A lot of WEs hire maids because they are really really cheap, but I don’t know what Will thinks about that. I guess we’ll see how busy we are when we are both working. Also, there are no outlets in our bathrooms! How strange. Who wants to have all of their appliances strung out all over their bedroom!? On the other hand, our decorations are pretty and I really like our drapes and living room set.

Did I tell you the “best part?“ Our apt. is right across the street from a mosque so every morning around 3:30 their prayer call begins for the day and they do it over a loud speaker so everyone can hear it. It is really loud and kind of scary sounding. It will take me time to get use to that, talk about a wake up call! We are staying with my parents until Saturday because we have no groceries or car or any concept of where we are going. I sure am ready to know my way around!

So many more things I want to tell you all but it is almost 2 here andI need to get on some sort of schedule for the 4:00 mornings when Will starts work. By the way, I took a shower last night and the water was turned to cold and it was still hot! That is the kind of weather I’m living in- not so great for staying dry.

I guess I need to get off for now. Will and I don’t have a computer yet, but hopefully I will be able to use my parents a couple times a week to share my culture shocking experiences with you!

Thanks for listening, have a nice evening

It is nice just to take a minute to blog. I have millions of things running through my head and I have been going a thousand miles a minute, so it feels good just to stop and regroup. There are so many things I want to just lay out on the table about the many emotions I am feeling as I get ready to move, but who has time for all that!?

Last night I went to bed at midnight because Will “made” me. I really needed to stay up another 3hours and had the adrenaline to do so, but Will thought that I needed to rest- that and the fact that my high strung disposition may drive him crazy. So I lay in bed for like an hour just thinking of so many things…

I was thinking about this Seinfeld I watched the other day and at the beginning he was talking about moving and how when a person moves, all they see or think about are boxes. Such true “wisdom” from Seinfeld. I remember when I was little how much fun a simple cardboard box was. I remember my dad telling stories about him and his brother and older sister ganging up on their youngest sister and throwing her in a box and shaking it all around and stuff. So of course, as little kid I had to try it. It was actually fun in some crazy way. Then, who could forget the makeshift house almost every kid has made in a box!? Hours of built-in fun from a simple box. Boxes are great fun for kids, someone should market them! ha ha. Well, now that I am preparing to move, boxes are all but fun. I have come a long way from the “please join me in my ‘house’ for a tea party” days. My life is revolving around getting things in them and putting them somewhere.

Today is my last day at work. I am sad. I actually liked going to work. I work in the transcript office of my university. We have had so much fun up there. All of the girls I work with are taking finals this week, so I haven’t gotten to see them. Carly came by yesterday and dropped my off a present, which was really thoughtful. Sheri, the lady I work for, got me stationary and a really cute journal. I have a feeling that will come in handy- the internet is not up at my parent’s house yet so there will be no bloging for a while and I will be by myself until I get a job, so I will have lots of time to write about my new venture. I brought up my plants and candles that I can’t take along, so I will have a “love fern” growing in the office for the girls to remember me.

I don’t even really know what else to blog, everything is moving, moving, moving, and hearing about that stress is stressful in itself, and since that is all that I know right now, I guess that is all I can write.

Hopefully when we get over there we will get the internet and I will be able to write about the crazy new days of adjusting to a whole new world and lifestyle. All I can hope is that Will and I get our own apartment soon and we won’t have to life with my parents for long- which is a LONG story and too confusing to explain. To put it short, until I get a job, Will and I can’t have our own apartment (the comapny pays for it and since I don’t have a job they wouldn’t pay for me to live there) so I will have to live with my parents and hopefully Will will get to live with me too. I love my family, but they are already driving me crazy. (this may be a whole long blog for some other day) My parents have created a monster with my sister. I guess now that she has been the “only“ child for a while their relationship with her has taken a 180. She has this manipulative “power“ to get whatever she wants anytime. I just don’t think I can live with them and watch them constantly give in to her when they have the power to say, “no.“ Like I said, this is a whole other blog.

I’m hoping that maybe tomorrow night or Friday afternoonWill and I will be able to take a short break and enjoy eachother. We had all of these plans to go eat at the places we won’t be able to when we move there, and go shopping for the many things we needed to take with us, but everyone wants to see us before we leave- which in itself is stressful- so I think I am just going to surprise him and buy movie tickets on Friday, no matter how much we still need to do.

Well, this may be my last blog for the next couple of weeks! Thanks for listening and I will be sure to blog about all the new experiences in Kuwait as soon as I can!!

Where did my weekend go? I told someone the other day that I was unofficially a graduate as of this past Friday and they asked me how it felt and I had to stop and think about it. My life has been on fast forward these last few weeks and I haven’t really had time to stop and think about things, or take anything in. I’m not even to the point of realizing, “Okay, I am going to be leaving ‘my world’ in 8 days.” I’m not there yet. So as I “graduate” I haven’t really had the chance to reflect on how I feel. If I was honest I am a little apprehensive- I’m in the “real world” now. No more summer vacations and getting done at 3 in the afternoon! anyway…

This weekend was a blur. I spent my first night alone on Thursday. I think it was the first time in my entire life that I have actually spent all alone, because in the past I would have Cleo with me, which in a sense counts. I had to study all night for my finals the next day, so it wasn’t that bad. Jenny (MIL) and I went to dinner, because she was alone too (Will went to visit his grandparents in Tulsa with his dad before we left). Will got home Friday night late, so we didn’t do anything. I sat around and watched Animal Cops until he got home. Such a thrilling graudation party. You have to watch out for me. I tend to get a little wild. ha ha. Saturday morning I went with Jenny and her mom to this mother-daughter luncheon they had at her church. It was nice. It is kind of funny to look back at last year’s banquet. I had only been married to Will for a month then. There were several girls who had major crushes on Will and weren’t big fans of me since I had married him (how silly and junior highish ) and so I had to have the “perfect” outfit and hair and everything else to go. Why are their times when we dress for other girls? I know I can’t be the only one to ever do this. I know it was petty, I guess it is just a girl thing. How silly that I even “stooped” to their level. Oh well. So this year was nice, a few of the girls weren’t friendly, but a couple were and it was nice just to talk about moving on and growing up (she had just gotten married this year). It was also funny to talk to a few ladies and hear the gossip about our move. One lady heard we were going to do accounting in Belgium. How funny. That would be nice, but that is way far off from the truth. Who knows what other stories are going around. I had a good time this year, plus I won a door prize.

That afternoon was not as much fun, but necessary. We moved out a ton of furniture. Our house was looking sad. We got a lot done. I didn’t realize how much stuff we had… and still have. Sunday afternoon we finished up moving our furniture. We just have a couple more things like our mattresses and stuff and then we are done. I have a couple of more boxes to pack to put in storage, and the rest is figuring our what to mail over there and pack. We only get to take 2 suitcases and a carry on with us each. The company will also pay for us to mail 100 pounds, which is not much, so it’s been a challenge trying to figure what I really want to take with me. We can ship as much as we want, we will just have to pay for it, but I don’t think I want to take a ton of stuff with us because once I get a job we will have to move again into another aparment, so its no use getting settled and having to move all over again. Everything is furnished there, so that is good too. So it’s mostly bringing a few picture frames and clothes and who knows what else. Its amazing how much stuff we’ve shipped. I also shipped about 4 boxes of winter clothes already. How dumb. It’s cold maybe 3 months there. Oh well. too late. My head is spinning right now. My mom is a veteran packer. As a military wife for 20 years, my mom was use to all of the little details, I however, am not. My “aunt” -as Josie put it in her blog the other day- came to visit 5 days early which is not normal at all. I don’t know if it is because of stress or what. I hope that is what it is and once this is all over I’ll go back to normal. Who knows. I am just ready to finish all of this, but it doesn’t even feel like I have started. I get one thing done and there are a million things to begin. Serenity now!

Well, my sister wussed out and started school. Looks like I’ll be going it alone for a while until I get a job. That’s a whole other thing though. I just have to look at today and not worry about tomorrow!

I think that is enough for now! more to come as get ready to begin a whole new adventure!

It is official. Will and I are gone from Central. Last night was our last night. I can’t even express the weight off of our shoulders. I don’t think we will ever realize how much we have grown in these past two years until we get further away and are able to look back and see things clearer.

The kids threw us a sweet little “surprise” party last night. We took lots of pictures and gave lots of hugs. Since we are moving to the hottest place in the world, I got rid of a lot of my winter clothes (but I still packed about 3 boxes worth of long sleeved stuff, how dumb) and gave it to the girls. They were sooo excited. They don’t get new clothes or anything, so I really enjoyed seeing their faces. I only wish I could see them wearing them. The youth also got us each a gift. Will got a cute OU Christmas ornament that plays Boomer Sooner, and I got a really cute black wallet that has a silver OU snap on the front. Then, they gave us this huge framed collage of pictures of the youth over the 2 years we had been there. That was the best and is very special. I will really enjoying looking at that in a few years, just to remember the lives that we touched and that touched us too!

Then we got called down to the sanctuary where the adults meet and were given a love offering and a pretty little frame with the church’s picture on it and then a picture of Will and I with the years we served. They prayed with us and then that was it! They youth shed some tears, but none from our side. I don’t mean that to sound heartless, because I really love those kids, especially my girls, but it is time. I am sad to leave them because I wonder what will happen to the youth group when we leave and the foundation we laid, but Will and I knew it was our time to go. Like I said, we will probably never get to see these kids grow leaps and bounds spiritually, but we were there to lay the groundwork- which was painstaking- so that the next person who comes in is able to build from there.

So much more to say, but not now.

I talked to my sister last night. It was so great to hear her voice. We have our differences-like all siblings- but she is truly my best friend. There is an age gap between us, but I think that has helped. We don’t have a lot to fight about that way. I don’t think she is going to start school until the fall, so I will have someone to hang out with when I get over there. I was so happy! I just hope she holds out and doesn’t wimp on me (she is 15 but still panics if she is left alone, although I don’t blame her in a new environment). Our last day at home is May 10. We fly out that evening. I never thought I would ever say this- but I am so ready to leave! All through high school, so many of my friends talked about how they couldn’t wait to leave here, and I never understood why. Its like they had this sense of urgency that they HAD to get out of here or they would suffocate or something. For once, I can kind of relate. I will always love where I am from, and Will and I will definetly come back to Oklahoma when we are done, but I am really ready to go. Like I said earlier, it’s time!

I am taking my finals tomorrow instead of next week. As of tomorrow I am unofficially a graduate and in the real world! AHH! I better study! Thanks for listening

There are times when I wish I could express my feelings to others like men are able to. They can yell things like , “You are so stupid! open your eyes! Can’t you see you are ruining you life!“ And then 5 minutes later they are fine. They duke it out and then they are over it.

That is something I admire about Will. He says what he wants, even if it is something someone doesn’t want to hear.(he doen’t say the “hey you are stupid stuff,” I was just using that as an extreme example). He isn’t out to hurt people’s feelings, but he is able to be very truthful with people, and that is a reason why a lot of people respect him. He has no problem saying what he wants to say. I, on the other hand, don’t talk “like a guy.” I am “too nice” in situations a lot of the time. The past 2 days I have needed “guy talk” in my life.

My MOH and I have had our ups and down over this past year, but things have really become different. She has really changed. Our “boss” Sheri has even been noticing her change in work ethics and the fact that she has totally started to avoid her (they used to be running partners). Well the latest with her has got my head spinning and I get to be the confidant of everything going on in her life.

She is making such poor decisions and is asking me to support her for making them, because no one else is. A strength (which obviously can also be a weakness) of mine is that I am good at encouraging others. I think she is using my positive encouragement as a free ticket to make stupid decisions. I have listened to everthing with an open mind- but this is just not the girl I became friends with. She is longing to be accepted by this certain group and her new boyfriend (that’s a long story) that she is willing to compromise what she has stood for for so long- and expected others around her to stand for too. I don’t want to go into details, but its a bad situation.

I talked to Will about it last night, and of course, he told me to tell her all of the things I already wanted to say in my head, but just couldn’t muster out. I was proud of myself today because I told her that she is old enough to make her own decisions but she needs to realize that they may be wrong and has to be able to accept them (I sound like a parent! AHHH).

I know people change over time, but I feel like she is changing not for herself, but for those around her. That is where I wish I could just tell her to look at the situation from a different perspective. She has put life on hold to be a surgrugate (or however you spell it) mother as a 22 year old to someone she doesn’t even know, not to mention the other bad choices. I was a little more “firm” and forthcoming about my feelings today, but it sounds like her mind is made up. She can do what she wants, but it makes me sad because of how great she is. I just need to let it all out “like a guy” and hope she responds in a “guy” manner- taking it in, getting mad, and then being fine. More to come

Lucky you. Since my mom and sister are gone, and I am the only one in the office this morning, I have noone to vent to, so my poor blog must serve as my sounding board today!

This post will probably be all over the board and make no sense, sorry.

Will and I got into an argument last night that left me feeling lousy. He is the best husband ever and is forever surprising me with little things and constantly showing his love for me. I do the same, but we show it in different ways. During our premarital counseling, we read the book The 5 Love Languages (GREAT book). My love language is time. I feel the most loved when Will is spending quality time with me. Will’s love language is affirmation. Kind and encouraging words make him feel the most loved. However, he has what the book calls a second “dialect,” which is gifts. He also feels love is expressed to him when someone gets him a gift or a surprise or something thoughtful. Well, I confess… I have lacked in the secondary.

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment to get my splint (I have an onset of TMJ). Earlier that day Will had asked if I wanted to go to a movie that he had really wanted to go see, and I said yes. The movie started at 4:45 and my appointment was at 4:20. So I get into the dentist chair and Will calls, already at the theatre, and wanted to know about what time I would be coming. I told him I would be later and if he wanted he could buy my ticket and wait for me, and we would probably just miss the previews. By that time my dentist had come in, so I had to cut things short. After my five minute appointment I called Will and he was on his way home (which wasn’t in the plan). Anyway, to make a long story short there was a lot of talking about things last night and it came down to a couple of things. They really don’t have a lot to do with the situation that had happened, but they stemmed from it I guess you could say. Will said he was feeling like he is constantly doing thoughtful things for me and not getting any “surprises”in return. I felt horrible. I guess I have concentrated so much on affirming him that I lost sight of his need for gifts of thoughtfulness. I will leave him lots of nice notes around the house and text message him sweet things, but it has been a while since I bought him a Sports Illustrated “just because,” so I felt pretty bad. Will “controls” the checkbook, which can sometimes make it difficult to plan a surprise without him knowing. I don’t have to plan some extravagant event all of the time, I just need to do little things to let Will know he is appreciated. I felt pretty bad. So ladies… what are some REALLY inexpensive things you do for your husband? With all of the costs of moving I really want to do somethings special because of all he has been doing for our move, but our finances have taken a hit with all of the unforseen costs. Anyway, I was thinking of making him some good things to eat tomorrow and watching the NFL draft- literally an ALL DAY event- that Will has been looking forward to for weeks now. Its all he talks about.

So anyway, that was my evening last night. I apologized to Will and told him I will show him better outwardly what I feel inside inwardly.  Am I making sense? Who knows.

Tonight I have my scholarship banquet. I received a full scholarship to my college and tonight all of the 4 years honor we seniors who are about to graduate. It’s exciting but in some ways sad too. It’s been a great 4 years.

Thanks for listening.

Well, as expected it rained yesterday. My poor car. It was clean for 24 hours, and thats it. I guess it looks more “authentic“ now. If it were as spotless as before, people may have gotten suspicious. We have a girl coming to look at it Saturday, so hopefully it will go good. It definitley has “charachter.“ The headliner started to droop last summer, so I am praying it holds on a little longer. I mean, it’s not hanging in your face or anything, but if you had big hair, it may cause a problem. Then, the front end has seen better days. Its a Camaro, so it has a front end really low to the ground, which doesn’t help. I have had it painted 3 times and it has still chipped some. I heard the more times you have to paint it, the harder it is for the paint to stick. I was an official “curb killer“ as an early driver. My sole purpose in driving, it seemed, was to seek out all curbs in my town and run them over. I have also had many run ins with animals (pretty say huh?) My high school is near a park that housed hundreds of prarie dogs. There were many a days when I would be running late and “dadunk“ oops! How horrible! I never meant to, it just happened. I am an animal lover, so I feel really bad. I also have a cat story that I was teased about for a while, but don’t worry the cat was fine. I promise.

Will got an email today telling him his visa is ready and they want us to be there no later than the 11th, which thankfully is a little later than we had expected. I think-hopefully- we are going to try and fly out on the 10th. Since I don’t have a job yet and am only on a visitor’s visa, my dad is going to have to talk to the traveling coordinator to make sure Will and I get on the same flights and everything (how bad would that be- flying across the world my myself!!? I have lived in the same place for years and still have to stop and think about how to get places.) We are praying we get to go on the 10th because that would put us in Kuwait on a Wednesday, which is like their Friday. That way we recover from jet lag (and culture shock).

My mom and sister left for Colorado yesterday to visit my grandparents. They fly out Saturday. I am already so excited to see them. My sister’s teachers already gave her grades for the semester, so technically she doesn’t have to go to school until the fall. I am trying to talk her into hanging out with me and not going to school during May, but I think my mom wants her to sit in some classes so she can meet people and won’t be completely bored when summer comes. It was worth a try I guess.

Tomorrow Will and I are going to go “miserable weather shopping-” not that they really make clothes to make you feel better when its 130 degrees. I have no idea what to shop for. Women can’t wear shorts there, but I don’t know about sleeveless shirts- I hope I can. I will have nothing to wear if not!

Have a good weekend!

Just some random things today.

I intern in the marketing department of one of the hospitals here in town. We have a resident nurse that works in our office and today she had this cool “germ finding gadget.” It looked like a black light and you shine in on your hands or where ever else you want to check for germs and you can spot them! I am a “germ-aphob” you could say, so I wash my hands several times during the day. I got checked and I was all clear. Some of the ladies had germs on their hands and arms though, it was weird.

Well as of now my car is as spotless as my hands! We are going to sell good old Cameron since we’re moving. I’ve had her since I was 16- so it is time to go. It has accumulated a lot of yuck over the years and was in desparate need of a “deep cleaning,” so we got it detailed yesterday. I have never been more proud! It looks great- for a split second I thought I would want to keep it (not really though). I hope it makes someone want to buy it. Of course, we are expecting rain this week so the true Cameron may be revealed!

On to prenatal vitamins. A girl I work with- who is younger than I am- is taking them! She said it is supposed to make your hair grow faster. Anyone heard this? Is it true? She had been taking some biotin vitamin stuff and she said it didn’t work, so she and her roommate were going to try this. I have been growing my hair out for years, all in vain, so I am curious. The whole idea of taking prenatal vitiamins freaks me out. I can just imagine me buying them and setting them on the counter. Will would come home, see them, and faint. I think it’s all in the name. They are probably the same as regular vitiamins just with more folic acid and iron or something. Who knows.

Well I have been officially terrified today-thank you Andrea. She is the lady I intern for. When she was in junior high she lived in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. She had a lot to tell me- mostly scary stuff. I had to go check my pants after I talked to her, that’s how much it scared me (not really)! Kuwait is different from Saudi, but it is the same in some ways. I am not motivated enough to go into details about all we talked about, but it totally gave me a lot to think about- mostly worry about

I want a dog. Its funny because Will and I totally flip flopped. About 6 months ago, Will kept talking about how much he wanted a dog and I was totally against it because I thought (and this is really silly) that things were “progressing too fast.” Isn’t that silly? I know. It’s like you get married, get a dog and the next step is popping out your own litter of children- something I don’t want to do for a long time. Will said I’m crazy and I know that I am, but that is a really touchy subject with me. I mean, it took me 6 months to make our plants grow, I didn’t think I would be ready to take a dog out in the middle of the night, clean its poop, and all of the other stuff- that all reminds me of having children. Okay, let me put a disclaimer out there for all you mothers out there- I know in my heart there are so many joys of having a child and I am not minimizing those, but I am totally not ready for all of that. but now I am changing my mind when it comes to the puppy thing. My plants are in good shape at last.

Initially, Will had been trying to talk me in to a min pin- yuck. They are so yappy. I couldn’t have handeled it. Eventually we want a lab. Will’s fam raised labs for a long time, so those are his favorites, but we were in need of something small to fit in our condo for now!

I want a maltese soooo bad. They are my favorite small dog. Will knows that if we ever got a dog, that would be my choice. Ever since my parents put Cleo down 2 weeks ago, I’ve been dog crazy. I told Will that we should get one to take to Kuwait with us. since I don’t have a job yet, a puppy would keep me company. A great idea, but not practical at all. When I get a job there would be no one to take the dog out… there are dozens of reasons Will came up with- some reasonable, others just silly. But, he is probably right. Once I get a job there would be no one to take care of it. I just keep thinking that if I have “puppy fever” (NOT baby fever ) this bad, I won’t be able to wait 3 years!

Maybe we’ll get a camel or something.