The color purple

You know the color purple seems to be the color of choice in our bathroom. Everything is purple or accented with purple. Shakil and I didn't do the decorating because I don't think either one of us would have gone with ALL purple and I do mean ALL. We have a purple toilet!!! Everytime I walk into the restroom and see this monstrosity - I'm just shocked. I've never seen a purple toilet before. Check it out...
The toilet is really a dark purple and as you can probably see in the pic - the seat is a bit lighter but heck they got the toilet paper holder to match!

Oh it gets better - check out our purple sink!!















I have no idea who did do the decorating in this restroom but this is the only restroom in the entire house that is like this and its connected to our bedroom. So I guess we're stuck with it for now or maybe we're just special.

Until later...

Bye for now.

MIL has left!!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right - you read it correctly - MIL has left!! I know I sound horrible and I really don't mean for it to sound that way. Shakil had mentioned to me the day before they left that I should tell FIL that he should take MIL back with him to Karachi when he leaves. I pondered it over and wondered how I could just strike up the conversation with FIL about MIL leaving with him.

Well the night before they left Shakil, FIL and I were sitting in the drawing room and FIL asked me if MIL was still bothering me. I was like, whaaaaaa - perfect opportunity to say something and of course I did. I hesitated a bit at first but did tell him that I'd like her to go to Karachi with him. I told him that we just need a break from one another and it's nothing personal - it's just time. I want that time alone with Shakil before our baby comes because we allllllllll know after a newborn arrives - there is not much alone time anymore. I'm not knockin' it - I can't wait.

FIL agreed and said that I needed to tell her to go to Karachi. Well we (Shakil really) had been asking her for several days if she wanted to go and she would respond with a quick yes. I was starting to wonder why the hell she didn't want to leave after she kept saying she wanted to go. I was convinced she was just wanting to keep "mothering" me and being way too overbearing/pushy. I didn't tell her that I wanted her to go - I think maybe Shakil discussed it with her again. FIL did say he had a ticket for her to leave and that gave us hope but she was still saying she wasn't going.

The next day Shakil walks out of our bedroom to find MIL packing!!!!!!! Oh yes!!!! I couldn't believe it when he walked back in and told me she was leaving. They left about 3:00 in the afternoon yesterday and I just wanted to run around the house and yell, "Thank God - I'm free - free at last!!" It was great.

I'm not so used to being here alone at night since Shakil works nights. Last night was my first night alone - he gets off at 3 a.m. on Saturday nights and tonight (Sunday) is the same deal. I guess it is not so bad but the 2 nights he works until 6 a.m. are probably going to bother me a bit.

Made a great chinese dish this evening since I had the kitchen allllllllllllll to myself!! It was a chinese rice with chicken and veggies. I'm surprised at how well it turned out. I'm not used to the rice here or how to cook it. It usually comes out all soft/lumpy. This time it turned out very good. I'm going to pat myself on the back if ya don't mind!! :-)

20 more minutes until Oprah starts. I spent 2 hours in the kitchen cooking so it's time to relax but I need a shower first.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Chinese for Thanksgiving?

Well, I knew Shakil was going to take me out for Thanksgiving and he kept asking me where I wanted to go - he mentioned Paki food and then mentioned Chinese. I thought Chinese was sounding pretty good. I never would have imagined I'd be having Chinese on Thanksgiving. Anyways, we went to a local Chinese restaurant that is about 5 minutes for us - they have a buffet. It was pretty good but they were lacking one of my fav dishes they usually have, other than that - very good. I must have had 4 egg rolls - wait I did have 4! :-O Hungry Tara??

After dinner we came home and were waiting for a movie "Along Came Polly" (which neither of us had seen) to come on HBO. I got online to get in touch with my Mom in the meantime. She was expecting my family to arrive about 1 p.m. or so and she said she'd call me here on the landline when everyone got there so I could talk to them all. So I get offline and I'm waiting for her call and 20 minutes pass by the time she said she'd call and I get back online and call her from the computer - I was about to fall asleep waiting. It was after midnight. I got to talk to everyone one by one and it was very nice - made me miss them all the more though. :-(

My Mom didn't cook the traditional turkey and dressing this year since Shak and I weren't going to be there. She cooked a big ham and had everyone bring a dish. Well, whatever she did - it all sounded grrrrrrrrrrreat!!!! She says she'll cook Shakil and I a traditional Thanksgiving dinner when we get back to the U.S. regardless of what time of the year it is. Tasty!

I hope that everyone else who celebrates had a nice Thanksgiving. I guess in the true meaning of Thanksgiving it really doesn't matter where you are in the world - it is all about giving thanks and I think most have so much to be thankful for.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Happy Turkey Day...

to everyone in the U.S. and to everyone who is abroad and might be celebrating!! No celebrating going on over here in Pak though - why would they?? I'm here and I want some celebrations damnit!! ;-) I've been telling Shakil all week that Thanksgiving is on Thursday. He is going to take me out but I sure won't be getting a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixin's that I'm used to. :-( He did offer to take me to Subway where I could get a turkey sub. ha ha!! I really don't want Subway on Thanksgiving so we shall see where we go.

This is my first Thanksgiving EVER to be away from my family. I feel a bit sentimental about it. I can just picture my family all sitting around the dining room table with some yummy food. Well, there is next year, right? Plus Shakil and I just have so much to be thankful for this year - our little girl that is on the way. :-)

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Hospital visiting...

Everything is fine with baby and I - no need to think I had to visit because something was wrong. :-) On Shakil's day off I mentioned to him that we should go visit the hospital that I'll be delivering at. MIL decided to accompany us - I didn't really want her to go along but I just kept my mouth shut. When we got into the car, I paid attention to what the time was because I wanted to calculate how far the drive would be for us when the big day comes. Well turns out that the hospital Shakil was headed to wasn't the hospital I'd be delivering at. He didn't know where it was or he thought he did. I was like grrrrrrrrrrreat, what if that happened while I was in labor?? Anyways, he stopped at some clinic and they told him where the hospital was and apparently we had already passed it sometime back. :-) Good news is the hospital is only about a 5 to 10 minute drive from our house.

We park and I'm looking at the outside of the hospital and it looks relatively nice. It seemed fairly new and modern on the outside. Most hospitals here in this city look pretty old to me. We walk inside and there is a reception desk, waiting areas and set of elevators. Shakil proceeded to ask them if we could see the maternity area. I think they were caught a bit off guard or maybe women here don't check out the facilities first and they thought I was still pretty early in pregnancy. Well I don't think 7 mos is too early to check out the facilities considering I'm having our baby here in a 3rd world country. Sheesh! They did say that no one is allowed and the security seemed pretty good. A pediatrician offered to take us up to the maternity area.

We all get on the elevator which was QUITE small. I've never seen an elevator this small but we all fit. :-) We arrive on the maternity floor and the doctor proceeds to show us the "pre-delivery room" as he called it. He told me to go ahead and look inside - well there was a woman in labor there so I felt kind of odd so I just basically peeked my head in to see the area. He did say there is usually another bed in there. Another woman laboring with me??? What the heck is what I thought??? Shakil says he'll see what he can do to make sure there is not anyone else with me. We'll see how well that works out.

Next the doc shows us the "theater" as they call it. "Theater" to us western folk would be the "operating room". This is where I'll be having the baby either naturally or via c-section which we hope is naturally. The "pre-delivery" area and "theater" both seemed very clean. We of course couldn't go into the theater but from what I could see - it looked fine.

Last we saw the nursery. It was considerably smaller than U.S. hospital nurseries. It seemed ok to me but of course it is not anything like a nursery in the U.S. They do have modern equipment but it looks a bit older than what we are accustomed to seeing in a western country. Shakil claims he is not at all satisfied with the nursery and doesn't want our little girl staying in there. I agree, I will want her with me at all times and Shakil is going to see to it he says.

Turns out the pediatrician that was giving us the little tour is the pediatrician my OB here lets see after the newborns. So it was nice to get to talk to him and he really took his time answering any questions we had, etc. Overall I think it is a nice hospital - well as nice as it can be. After visiting this hospital that I will be delivering at - Shakil took us to another hospital that most of the family here thinks is better.

The 2nd hospital is MUCH busier and I was not all happy about how they just let us go right up to the maternity area and no one stopped us at all. I don't feel security is good there. There was a guy that was showing us where the labor area was and I did get to walk in and there must have been 6 to 7 women laboring in that room. NO WAY!! It was 1 of 2 labor rooms that I could see of. He did show us the nursery and it was a bit bigger than the other hospital but definitely not any better. On the door of the labor room there was a sign posted "No men allowed". Well, that doesn't work for me. Shakil confirmed that they do not let men inside with the woman. At the hospital where I'll be delivering - our OB IS letting Shakil be with me during the labor/delivery and will even let Shakil in for c-section if for some reason I had to have one.

So overall I did not like the 2nd hospital AT ALL. I'm much happier with the hospital that I'll be delivering at - whenever the day comes. :-) Which won't be long now.

Talked to my Mom this evening and she'll MOST likely be here the 3rd week in January for the birth. I'll be so ready to see her and have her support.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Get it while you can

Yesterday my MIL made a nice pot of rice with some veggies and potatoes in it. I didn't have any at lunch time when it was ready because I had some minced chicken that I needed to cook. I was just going to cook it up into burgers, freeze them and have them when I wanted them. You know, since food is an issue here - with me at least. Shakil and I usually have a really late lunch - meaning around 2 p.m. or so. This is all because of Shakil's night work schedule and I'm pretty much on the same schedule as him. I usually have a nap in the late evening after Shakil goes to work and by the time I wake up - I'm pretty darn hungry.

I wake up, go downstairs and start going through the fridge to see what there is to eat. I should now say, what is left for me to eat. I wanted to eat the some of the rice/veggies that MIL made but I couldn't find it anywhere. I found some chicken kabab like things that she made - had those - but where the heck is the rice? I finally found it in a hot pot. I was amazed to find that there was only a small portion left. My FIL and BIL had managed to consume almost a FULL pot of rice/veggies and this is no small pot - it's big. I've noticed that my FIL and BIL do not eat at all during the day and when they come home it is as if they are just famished. I'm really not complaining - ok yes I am. I just think they should be considerate of others and leave some for everyone else.

Tonight, same thing - took my little nap, woke up ready to eat, went downstairs to hunt for food and found out that everything was about gone. What the heck? My MIL had just finished cooking about 4 hours earlier and there is barely any left. Needless to say, tonights dinner sucked because there just wasn't much left. I had said to Shakil last night that I had learned my lesson. I would just make sure to get a dinner portion for myself after MIL finishes cooking. Otherwise when FIL and BIL get a hold of it - it'll be gone. I guess I really need to follow through with that because it's been 2 nights in a row that this has happened.

So my subject was "Get it while you can". If you don't get it while you can here at our house - you won't get it at all!!!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Lookin' good!!

Well.....my blood pressure has returned to normal - thank God. I feel so much better about it now. Shakil and I have made all the necessary changes here at home to make sure I can keep it normal. I do have "some" salt every now and then - it's not completely cut out but I think I'm doing very well with my diet. Hopefully I won't have had any weight gain at my next appt either. I gained a whopping 2 pounds when I was on bedrest with NO activity for 4 days. Doc was like, "how did that happen"? HELL IF I KNOW BUT IT DID!!! Sheesh.

I think MIL has made some changes in her cooking - can you believe it???? She made some daal the other day that was cooked very nicely with less salt. When one goes on a diet with salt restrictions, salt becomes the FIRST thing you recognize when there is too much. Today she made some rice with some veggies and some chicken kabab like things. Both were seasoned nicely with less salt. The oil content was lower as well - that's a big plus! So 2 points for MIL on her cooking today.

Last night Shakil took me out to a local restaurant here called "Gunsmoke". It is quite a neat restaurant with all sorts of western decor. You'd think you were sitting at a restaurant in some little western town in Texas. The ambiance is great and the waiters even dress up like cowboys. I've been there once before but last night was exceptionally good. We had burgers/fries and nice big bowl of chili for an appetizer. I'm surprised at how good the chili was. Makes me want to make some and I just might.

Doing laundry tonight and that is always a chore since there is no normal washing machine here. I started giving my clothes to the maid to to do but today I just felt like doing it myself. I never imagined when starting my 7th month of pregnancy that I'd be doing laundry like this. It actually is very good exercise for my arms which always need some toning. Shakil is at work and it really makes the time pass by when I'm here alone. Clothes are out on the line and no room for any more. Since the weather has become cooler here, it takes quite a while for the clothes to dry up. When I was here in the early summer time - you could put clothes out on the line and they would be dried up in an hour - if that! It rocked!!!

Well better go finish up.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Confined to bed...

Haven't blogged in a bit have I? Well last Thursday I went to see my OB and my blood pressure was running high. My OB had been keeping a close eye on it but it just hasn't wanted to go down. I also thought I had made changes to my diet here at home but unfortunately one of the main things I was eating has too much salt content - not good. I've cut it out completely and I'm following a strict diet of no salt at all. Now that is hard to do when my MIL still continues to salt everything and she is not trusted when she says it has no salt and doctor would prefer me not standing and cooking. Hubby has agreed to do some of the cooking - that'll be something!!

To make a long story short, the doctor actually wanted to admit me for 24 hour observation so he could find out if there were some emotional reasons behind BP rising. We all know that MIL has been stressing me and is just overly pushy about things. Shakil said he'd make the changes at home, discuss with MIL and if by Monday when the doctor wants to see me again, it's still high - then he can admit me. So from Thursday through Sunday I have been ordered complete bed rest - which I've followed.

The first couple of days my BP was still running pretty high and sometimes it would run high at rest. Then it would run high if I got upset or I was standing. Laying in bed it did get considerably lower. Today, Sunday it has ran normal all day!! I've asked for prayers that my little girl and myself stay healthy and well. I'm a strong believer that if you pray for something that eventually it will be answered - in time - not in your time when you want it to be. I go see the doctor again tomorrow (Monday) so we'll see what happens. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.

I really haven't gotten to experience Eid here since I've been in bed. I know there have been relatives that have stopped by for visiting, but being confined to my bed - I didn't go downstairs to meet with anyone. I do wish Eid Mubarak to all that have been celebrating.

Until later...

Bye for now.