My journey...

Ramadan Mubarak!

2008-09-01T13:48:00.001-05:00

Wishing you all who celebrate a blessful Ramadan and may all your fasts be accepted!!

recent pics of Sara

2008-08-18T21:27:00.008-05:00

Well, I finally finished up on the story of how Shakil got back to the US. There is so much more to tell and about our life now back in the US - 2 years later! I thought I'd show some pics of Sara as I have had some requests. She is 2 1/2 now!! Growing like a weed and SUCH a joy!! Enjoy!

This pic was of Sara earlier this year on a vacation to San Antonio. Here in this pic she has her first busted lip. She slipped in the bathroom and fell flat on her face. Of course it bled and bled, but I don't think it was too bad - sure could have been a lot worse!!

oops you missed it!!

This pic below is a pic of Sara at Easter. She just LOVED her little dress and she had so much fun hunting eggs!!

oops you missed it!!

This pic below is Sara at her 2nd birthday! It was a Dora the Explorer theme and might I add, SHE LOVESSSSSS DORA!! :)

oops you missed it!!

Here's a pic of Sara with just a big ol' grin on her face standing up on the chair to get something on the bar. She's quite the little naughty one!! But, loads of fun!!!

Oops you missed it!!

**If you are interested in seeing some pics - please email me at:
the_1_and_only_tara@yahoo.com

Until later...

Bye for now.

Part IV

2008-08-14T20:49:00.003-05:00

My family enjoyed seeing Sara IN PERSON for the first time. She warmed up to them pretty quickly and she just loved them. My family spent most of the afternoon with us and then the evening came. I found that the evening was when I missed Shakeel the most. I have no idea why, but I just did. We'd chat every evening on the net or I'd call him or vice versa. Our chats were always very hopeful in our situation and we knew eventually we'd have a final decision on if or when he was coming home. Home...it felt so good to say home with the thought of him being with us.

I'll never forget the day when he called me and told me that he got the visa! I'll never forget the sound of his voice and the feeling of relief that I could sense and I'm sure he could sense from me. I'd like to say that we never lost faith in that he would get the visa - but I know there were times when we did. We would try to stay so positive for the both of us, but when you waited as long as we did, went through everything that we did - you might as well.

Shakeel told me that he would start getting his things ready and start looking for a ticket to get home. Home....man that sounded good!!! Now I KNEW he was coming home and we were going to be a family...together in one place!

Shakeel decided that it would be almost 2 months before he'd get back. Afterall, he had pretty much started a new life back in Pakistan. He had been there for so long waiting he had to. He was working for an American company in Lahore, making his own living, etc. He had lots of thing to tie up before heading back to the US.

Those days of waiting for his arrival day came quicker than I thought. Afterall, this type of waiting was all together different - I knew he was coming and I was very excited!!

On the day Shakeel left Pakistan - I talked to him briefly before he headed to the airport in Lahore. I'm sure it must have been tough leaving his family again and tough on them seeing him leave once again and knowing that this time it was for good. Our life is here in the US and they knew it. They also knew it would be a while before we go back for visiting.

I could hear the excitement in Shakeel's voice on the phone and I was just so excited myself. I couldn't wait to see him and for him to see Sara again. When I left Pakistan Sara was 6 months old and she was now over 8 months old, crawling and doing so much more.

Throughout the day, I tracked Shakeel's flight on the internet. I can remember checking it for the last time to see if he was on time arriving into Dallas. My Mom went with Sara and I to the airport for his arrival. DFW airport has a new beautiful international terminal and it was a very comfortable waiting area. Sara was just sitting in her little infant carrier and I was sitting just so anxious to see him. Everytime there were people coming out the doors, I'd look up and see if I could see Shakeel.

I looked at the arrivals and noticed that Shakeel's plane had landed and it had been over an hour since it landed. Then I knew, he was in immigration. I knew it wouldn't be easy for him - Dallas was his port of entry and I knew they would check him out BIG TIME and they did for sure!

1 1/2 hours had just passed by and I decided to get Sara out of her carrier and walk over to where the passengers were coming out. I'm standing down towards the end of the area where they walk out and just waiting. I'm holding my Sara, talking to her and telling her that Daddy is coming. I look up and there he is coming out the doors. I could feel a tear come down my face and I ran over to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. He immediately snatched Sara out of my arms and she gave him this big look of, "who the heck are you??" But then after she heard his voice - it was wonderful. She got the biggest grin on her face and the look on Shakeel's face was priceless. We were a family again...together...where it all started back in 2003.

You know I look back on what all we went through with immigration and I have no regrets. I was given the opportunity to see, live and experience life in Pakistan. I think it really helped our relationship because Shakeel's family really got to know me in person. I learned so much while I was in Pakistan. I have co-workers who ask me about Pakistan and how I did it and you know...I did it because I love my husband and I was determined and I do mean DEEEEETERRRRMINED to get him back to the US and that is EXACTLY what I did. I love him so much and that is what got us through all of this.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Part III

2008-06-05T20:10:00.003-05:00

I arrived in the early evening to DFW airport. My friend Steph's husband was there at the gate to meet me. At the time he was working for American Eagle and so that is how he had access to being at the gate. It was nice to see a familiar face. He walked me to the baggage claim and just as we were allllmost the exit to baggage claim there was a wall of see through glass. I could see my Mom, my brother Brian and my friend Steph with her baby girl Jossalyn. They were all waiving and I was rushing to that exit to baggage claim. They all rushed over and gave Sara and I hugs and kisses. It felt so nice to see them all again!! We retrieved my baggage which surprisingly didn't take long at all.

We all walked out the car and we decided to go out for a nice dinner. It was nice and boy oh boy I couldn't wait to have a nice tall glass of iced tea!! We went to a local Mexican restaurant and you have NOOOO idea how bad I had been craving mexican food!! Trying to find a mexican food item in Lahore is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Believe it or not, I did find a can of imported refried beans at our local market in Lahore. It came with a hefty price tag of Rs 200 which is over $3 a can. What the heck!?!? No way. I didn't want it that bad!! ha ha!

Sara and I finally got to my Mom's house about 10p or so. I had no crib for Sara and no idea where she was going to sleep. She was 6 months old and I didn't think she could sleep with me. But, that is exactly what she did. She and I both just passed out and I have no idea what time I went to sleep. That night is really a blurr. I woke up bright and early with Sara the next morning. I had a full day's agenda of going and getting some things done. First things first - get Sara crib!

I went to Burlington Coat Factory and shopped around there for cribs and then went to Babies R Us and then back to Burlington Coat Factory where I bought this one for her.

It was a bit pricey but, it is a 3 in 1 crib that grows with your child. It goes from crib to toddler bed then to a full size bed. Well worth the investment.

Later in the afternoon, the rest of my family came over to visit. This was their first time seeing Sara in person. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was great being back together with my family. The only thing missing was Shakeel. When was he coming back???

To be continued later...

Until later...

Bye for now.

Part II

2008-05-20T17:53:00.003-05:00

I remember my flight home back to the States just like it was yesterday. I was blessed with having such a cooperative 6 month old baby. She slept that first leg of the flight from Lahore to Manchester - that was 8 hours. I was lucky enough to have bulkhead seating (which btw, I recommend if you are doing a long haul flight with little ones). The lady that sat next to me was such a blessing as well. She was a Pakistani woman who had a child with her. She was SOOOOO much help to me. From the get-go, she offered to help me in anyway possible. She would hold Sara so I could go use the restroom, or if I wanted to eat. I don't think I could have done it without her.

I remember when we stopped in Manchester. I got off the plane and went to change Sara's diaper. It was so nice to have normal diaper changing facilities. Since the old 747 we were flying on did not have proper changing facilities in the bathrooms. The only way to change a diaper was to lay a blanket down on the toilet seat and change Sara. Uh....NO WAY! So I just changed her in the airplane seat. Probably no the most proper thing to do, but what else was I to do?

Our layover in Manchester was no more than an hour or so and when we got back on the plane, the lady that had been helping me bought me some onion rings from Burger King. I guess she sensed I had been craving some good ol' American food. ha ha. They were tasty for sure!!

We did have a long wait for take-off out of Manchester and I bet we spent more than an hour just sitting on the plane. Well, unfortunately that made me late into Houston, TX. I had a domestic flight to catch once I arrived into Houston to take me in to Dallas/Fort Worth. I prayed and prayed that we would arrive back on time and if you didn't have to wait so long at baggage claim, then I might have made it. I rushed through baggage claim and through customs. Surprisingly, I got through pretty quick. I felt I was home free. Well, then we had to go through security. The line must have been a mile long and I was just chompin' the bit to get through there. I even asked the security lady if I could move up since I was going to be late for my flight. She declined to help me of course. Screw you lady!! That is what I really wanted to say.

We made it through security and I can remember literally running to the gate. No lie. I had Sara strapped onto me with one of those baby Bjorn look-alike things. Which btw, I highly recommend those things with little ones when flying. Not on the airplane, but in the airport, etc.

We made our flight! Wooooohoooooo!! I was home free!! I'll never forget the man that looked at me with almost disgust as I was walking down the aisle to my seat. I was the last one boarding the plane and I had an infant. Sara was the ONLY infant on the flight and I'm sure he was thinking, "oh great - we are going to listen to that baby cry the whole flight". HA HA HA jerk off - she didn't cry at all!!! But in all seriousness, he did say when we were landing, "I thought she was going to be crying most of the way - you have the best little baby - she didn't cry once". Well can ya blame her?? She was beat after our 18 hour flight. I did tell the man we had just finished a 18 hour flight. His mouth just dropped in amazement. Sara was a trooper that's for sure!

When we arrived into DFW airport (home), it was as if I couldn't get off that plane fast enough. To be continued later...

Until later...

Bye for now.

What's new?

2008-05-12T20:25:00.002-05:00

So...I wonder who all is still out there? Who still stops by my blog? Who still even cares? :) Well, where to start...I think I'll start from when I left Pakistan. I'll just start right before I headed back to the US. Well, I believe that most of you know that I had my daughter, Sara in Pakistan. I stayed in Pakistan for about 6 months after she was born. Wait...let me back-track. My original plan was to stay long enough for Sara to get her American passport. When I first called the consulate they told me it would take 6 weeks to process her passport. Well, we went to the consulate - got everything done and it arrived in about 2 weeks. So my plan was to leave when I got the passport - right? Well, that wasn't the case. Shakil did NOT want me to leave. But, really - can you blame him? I mean, I just had a baby for goodness sakes. She was two weeks old and I was going to just leave. I must admit I had my fair share of the Pakistan life and was MORE than ready to go home. So was my Mom! Pakistan was very hard for my Mom. Afterall, it's an entirely different world. Plus, it was really wearing on me not being about to just get out and go do things on my own.

Days went by - weeks went by and then before I knew it, a few months had gone by. Everytime I would even start to think about getting my ticket to go back to the US - Shak would say, "Stay a little while longer". And of course I would. I have to admit life in Pakistan is very easy and laid back. Big change from what I'm doing now. But anyways... I left Pakistan when Sara was 6 months.

The day I left Pakistan I had no idea if and when Shak was going to get to come back. We did find out that is I-601 waiver had been approved, but we hadn't heard crap since then. I left thinking that I would go home for a visit and then return to Pakistan.

I returned to the US after living in Pakistan for 1 year. I arrived back on US soil in August of 2006. Man, it felt so good to be home, but I had lots of things on my mind and lots of things to get done...

I'll write more later! Stay tuned if you're interested!

Until later...

Bye for now!

Be on the lookout...

2008-05-09T23:22:00.001-05:00

Tara is about to be back in da' house!! I'm going to start blogging again!! Can I get a wooooohoooo!?!?! :)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updating...

2008-01-05T22:55:00.000-06:00

Well, I took down the post that I was pregnant. On November 30th, I went in for the 10 week sono and the baby was gone. Well, still there but no heartbeat. I had some spotting that morning of the appointment and even more when I had my appointment time. My OB said that the baby measured about 7 weeks. So, I'm thankful that this happened early and I wasn't a lot further along if you know what I mean. But, thank God that my OB went ahead and did a D&C that night. Now miscarriages are not easy at all but this time it definitely was easier than before. I had a miscarriage before Sara and that one was rough. Well, just very hard on me emotionally. I'm doing good though and we're planning when we will start trying again. Giving myself some time and then we'll start again.

I keep meaning to post some pics of Sara. My little girl is going to turn 2 next month! I just can't believe it. Time flies by.

Next month, Shakil, Sara and I are going on a mini vacation to the Texas coast. We've booked a really nice hotel right on the beach. We've got GREAT ocean view from our room. I'm so excited and can't wait for this MUCH needed vacation.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Who's still out there??

2007-04-22T15:28:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd create a little post here after what....several months, huh?!? Plus, I'd really like to know who is still out there checking out my blog. If you do still come by, I appreciate it even though I haven't been kind enough to give you anything to read, huh.

So if you are a long time reader of mine you know that Shakil is back home with me in the good ol' state of Texas. I must say, things are really starting to feel normal again. It's just wonderful having him back here at home. He's working from home with the same company he worked for in Pakistan. We had our green card interview back several months ago and it went great. We should be hearing something pretty soon since they are doing the DORA (Dallas Office Rapid Adjustment)program here. Supposedly, they'll have the case finished in 90 days with this program - ha, I doubt it! But anyways, all that really matters is that he is back here for good!

I'm still working for the same place - an Urgent Care Clinic. I just love it but I sure work a lot of hours. So that is a bit rough at times. I manage to put in 40+ hours in 4 days. Good thing I get 3 days off a week. My coworkers are great and that really makes it a nice place to work.

My little Sara reached the big ONE! Can you believe it? She had a little party with friends/family. Did the whole cake thing and she had her own to do whatever with it. She made a big ol' mess - but hey, that's part of the fun, right? Not fun to clean up though! :/ She is 14 1/2 months old now and just walking all over the place. She is such a joy!!

In other news, we are buying a house and just got word that we got it! So that is wonderful news. Can't wait to get in and have our own place here together.

So whoever still reads or just stops by - post a comment. I'd love to know who all is still out there. When I have time, I love to check out some of my all time fav blogs.

Let's see where this goes and see if I can get back into blogging again. We shall see. :)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Time to come to an end...

2006-12-02T16:38:00.000-06:00

I started this blog in December of 2004, not knowing where or when my husband, Shakil would be able to make it back to the U.S. I was about to leave for Pakistan and wanted to post about my life and what it was like for a white American woman living in a third world country. I hope that you all enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing about my experiences.

Shakil is now back in the U.S. and I feel that this blog just doesn't fit into my life right now. I just can't devote the time that is needed anymore. I may come back to it some months later or maybe not. I've never been happier in my life as I am now. I feel so complete. I feel that even though that chapter of my life has ended...Shakil, Sara and I have opened up a whole new chapter in our lives as we continue in this journey called life.

Thank you all for reading, your comments, your thoughts, your prayers. Words will never be able to express how much that means to all of us.

So for now, I'm just going to enjoy reading other blogs because there are so many out there that I really do enjoy!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Pics from the party!!!

2006-11-22T18:51:00.000-06:00

I've been so busy the last few days with the new job. I managed to put in over 42 hours in 3 days. Our clinic has been booming with business which is great but I come home pooped!! I wanted to post some pics from Shakil's welcome home and party!! Enjoy!!

ooooh, you missed 'em!!!

The arrival...

2006-11-19T10:31:00.000-06:00

Shakil was due to arrive Monday evening and it seemed like that day just took forever to pass by. His flight was due in about 6:40 p.m. and Shakil had told me he just knew he'd be in immigration for quite a while but my Mom was getting ancy and we just went ahead out to the airport and got there about 6:45 p.m. When we got there his plane had already landed and I got the butterfly feeling in my tummy because I was just so excited.

There was another plane that had landed from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and you sure could distinguish those passengers from the flight Shakil was due in on. Shakil was coming in from London - that was his connection. It was pretty cool here Monday night and those Mexico passengers had 'em some shorts and tank tops on. Bet they froze their tails off when they went outside!! ha ha!

So my Mom, little Sara and I are just chillin' there waiting for Shakil and by the time 7:45 p.m. rolled around, I was looking around and noticed that we were just about the only people waiting. There was a big entrance Shakil would be coming out and everytime the doors would open up, I'd try to sneak a peek and see if I could see inside but of course I couldn't.

By 8 p.m. you know I was really getting overly ancy and I'd get up and go walk around a bit and then I decided to check the arrivals board and it had already been so long, Shakil's flight wasn't even listed anymore. So I'm standing there just staring at the board and then all of the sudden at just a few minutes past 8 p.m., Shakil comes out the door. Big ol' smile came over his face and I said, "there's your daddy" to Sara. I went as quickly as I could and gave him a big hug and smooch. He immediately grabbed Sara she looked at him like WHO ARE YOU???? She smiled when we were walking over to him but when he grabbed her to hold, she gave him this stare of who the heck are you? Shakil took it well and just laughed.

We headed home and Shakil was telling us that he spent over an hour in immigration. They took him off to a separate room for some questioning and went over his documents. First question they asked, "why did you overstay your visa?" I'm not surprised that they questioned him but all that stuff has been waived and it's over and done with. Oh well, the point is he made it back safely and all is well!! :)

I couldn't be happier having him home. Life is back to normal now - well as normal as life can be. He brought home some good stuff so that is always nice! The next day after he arrived Sara still looked at Shakil as if he was pretty much a stranger. We spent most of the day after he arrived just running around everywhere. He reallllly wanted to go to Walmart and look around and of course I was just fine with that. We did go to the International food store for some stuff - roti, chavel...stuff like that.

Tomorrow I will post some pics from Shakil's arrival and pics from the welcome home party we had yesterday! :) I may do it tonight!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Busy busy!

2006-11-18T08:19:00.000-06:00

I'm here and will definitely post an update this evening!! There's a big ol' welcome home party for Shakil this afternoon with 80 friends/relatives of mine and it should be a lot of fun. So please come back by and visit later when I post an update!! :)

Until then...

He's home!!!!

2006-11-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

Just got home with Shakil about half an hour ago and can you believe it - I'm actually blogging. WTH??? :) Anyways, will post tomorrow!!

Until then...

And he's off!!

2006-11-12T17:53:00.000-06:00

Shakil has officially departed from Pakistan!! He's on his way!! :) The plane left about 1 1/2 hours late. I spoke to him briefly while he was waiting at his gate and I could hear the excitement in his voice! Please keep him in your prayers.

Until later...

Last call from Shakil in Pakistan

2006-11-12T12:30:00.000-06:00

I just talked to Shakil and he's leaving for the airport in about an hour. That'll be the last time I talk to him unless I give him a ring while he's in the airport waiting. The circuits must be pretty busy at this time because I couldn't get through to him and he had to call me. So if I do give him another ring it may be tough getting through. Don't think I won't try!! ha ha!

I can't believe the day of his arrival is almost here!! I'm so incredibly excited and so happy! It's been a little over 2 months since I've seen him and you know that feels like an eternity.

Please keep Shakil in your prayers for a safe flight back home to where baby Sara and I are anxiously awaiting his arrival!! :)

Until later...

Looking back part 2

2006-11-12T08:23:00.000-06:00

I had left my previous post saying that the culture shock was big...very big. I mean, I knew I was going to have a hard time but at the same time I knew Pakistan was where I needed to be right then. If you would have asked me 5 years prior to that or even 2 years - I would say you're crazy, there is no way I'd ever go there. You know here in the US a lot of people "think" or it's forced into our heads by what you see on television that some countries like Pakistan are just somewhere you shouldn't go. I mean, I could tell someone "I'm going to Pakistan" and they'd say "WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?!?!" Uhhh...did you NOT just hear me??? Yes, Pakistan and then the next thing they would say is "Are you scared?" I was never scared while I was in Pakistan. My safety was never a concern. I always felt safe.

But yes, the culture is different from what I'm accustomed to here in the U.S. But it's not a bad thing at all. In fact, after I got used to Pakistan, I really started to enjoy the culture. I think you just learn to go with the flow. That was something that I really had to put into my head. "Try not to bitch so much Tara, it's not that bad and just go with the flow" is what I'd say to myself. But once you really get used to the lifestyle, the culture and the many differences you see in everyday life - it's not bad at all. In fact, I really learned so much while I was there.

The language barrier was a problem at functions but again, after a while you just get used to it. But everyone in Shakil's family spoke English and I'm capable enough of learning Urdu but never really cracked down and learned it. I had the desire but I guess I just had it in my mind "I'll never learn it". But thing is when you hear it all the time - you do start to slowly learn. And it's not that Shakil didn't want me to learn it, he did. I'd love to learn and God willing one day I will. I understand a hell of a lot more than I did 2 years ago. So that's progress. Little by little, I'll make the steps.

So when I look back at how something started so horrible by my husband being forced out of a country he had made his life for over 10 years....it really turned out quite well for us. There was a lot of hell and I do mean A LOT of hell we had to endure during the 2 1/2 years of waiting but I wouldn't change a thing. Our marriage is even stronger because of it. I know more about the Pakistani culture and look at our beautiful daughter, Sara that was born in Pakistan. We have so much to be thankful for and I will never take as much for granted like I used to. Life is so short and we really need to live each day to the fullest. Make the most of your life, get out and travel if you can, learn other cultures - it's wonderful!

So on that note....

Until later...

Bye for now.

Looking back...

2006-11-10T23:08:00.000-06:00

I really can't believe that it's been 2 1/2 years since Shakil and I started this journey together - well, yes I can but all in all it went by quicker this last year than that first year.

I'll never forget the day when I kissed Shakil goodbye like I always did before heading to work and never even knowing that would be the last time I'd see him that way for quite a long time. I head to work just like any other day and perform my many duties and around 10 a.m. in the morning I get that call on my mobile phone from Shakil. "He's never called before while I'm working" is what I thought and I picked it up immediately. I hear some muffled sounds of people talking but I don't hear anything from Shakil. I send him a few emails, afterall, he was supposed to be going to the INS office that morning. Maybe just calling me to tell me how it went? No, he wouldn't do that while I'm work. He'd wait until I got home to tell me all about it.

The afternoon rolled on by and it seemed like forever for my day to finish. I just couldn't wait to get out of that office and get a hold of Shakil. I'm not "supposed" to make personal calls at work but don't think that didn't stop me that day. I must have called his mobile a hundred times - no response. The most overwhelming feeling of emptiness came across me. I just didn't know what was going on and I've got that big lump in my tummy and feeling like I need to puke. I was so upset and worried why he wasn't answering his mobile - he always answers it, is what I thought.

I rush home thinking I'll find him tinkering with the computer or him sitting on the sofa watching t.v. - nothing...and no evidence that he had even returned back to my apartment. You can't even begin to imagine how I felt. Now remember, if you had followed my journey from the beginning you'd know that Shakil had filed for voluntary departure and it had been granted but he was past his departure date because the INS office had given him a report date PAST the voluntary departure date. So you might understand how nervous and scared I was considering he really was supposed leave prior to that voluntary departure date but didn't because he had been given that report date past it. If that makes any sense...

Shakil and I had the most amazing connection and we really had that connection since the day we went. We were set up and I never thought I'd fall for him. But we just really clicked from day one. We spent as much time as we could together because we knew that our time together would be short lived due to his immigration issue.

When I found out that Shakil had been detained by INS, I just felt my whole life crash in an instant. He was a part of me and it felt as if he had been kidnapped from me. It was a horrible, horrible feeling and I hope and pray that none of you ever have to go through something like this in your lifetime.

Shakil was taken to a maximum security prison - yes, prison - about a 3 hr drive from where I live. I'd leave after work on Friday's and drive out there, spend the night and be ready early Saturday morning for visitation. We were allowed 2 hours together while he was detained. Yes, 2 hours once a week. This went on for over 3 months. Rain or shine, I'd drive out there. I only missed one weekend because I got sick with flu/pneumonia at the same time.

The day Shakil gave me a call and told me that he was getting out - it was like music to my ears. I'll never forget where I was, what I was doing...it's just something that sticks in your mind forever because we thought the day would never come. Immigration just kept dragging their feet and telling us there were no seats available to Pakistan for him. And finally the day came and he was out of that hellhole. That's what I call it because that is what it was. He didn't deserve to be in there and a lot of those immigration detainees don't deserve it either. Now, detainees that have their green card and have abused it, committed murder, robbery, etc. Yes, I feel they deserve to be in there because I have no sympathy for people like that.

I always knew while Shakil was being detained that I'd follow right behind him when he was sent back to Pakistan. I had my mind made up. There was never any question. We knew we wanted to get married, we knew wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and we knew we wanted to start family one day and live happily ever after. Isn't that what we all want one day? Just to be happy and enjoy life as much as we can with the one we love. I felt Shakil and I deserved it. We had gone this far together, gone through so much shit and damnit we were going to do it! We weren't going to let immigration stop us. I used to tell Shakil, "Well, you may not be able to stay here in the U.S. but they can't stop me from going to you in Pakistan". And that is what I did.

We got married in Pakistan in February of 2004. I was able to spend 2 short weeks because I did have a job to get back to in the U.S. at that time. When I went back to the U.S., I was just heartbroken. I felt so alone, lost and really didn't know where to turn. Thank God I had a roommate at that time who was such a big help to emotionally because I just couldn't bare the thought of living alone and not getting to see Shakil.

We spent 10 LONG months apart. We'd talk every single day - maybe only missing 2 or 3 days out of those 10 months. It finally became more than I could handle and I decided that I wanted to go back to Pakistan and be with Shakil. Again, I wasn't going to let immigration keep us apart.

In January of 2005, I headed back to Pakistan. It was so wonderful to be back with him again and really get to experience "married life" together. Remember, we got married in February of 2004 and only got to spend 2 weeks together before I had to head back to the U.S. So we had not even began to experience the married life together.

Culture shock was big...really big...and I had a very hard time. You may ask, "What was it that was so hard for you Tara?" And I'll discuss more in my next post.

Until then...

The excitement builds!!

2006-11-09T18:30:00.000-06:00

Yeah, it's building alright! Shakil arrives into the US in just 3 short days! Any of you who have followed our journey since the beginning or even ones that just started reading our journey - can you believe it??? I'm going to post some more about this in the next 2 days or so.

I think I mentioned that we will be staying here at my Mom's for a bit. Just to sort of gather our thoughts, save up some dough and see where we wanna go from here. Not that we'll be venturing off too far!!

I had been organizing around and noticed or maybe just never even payed attention but there is no lock on my bedroom door. In fact, there are no locks on any doors in this house except for the bathrooms/master bedroom. What the heck? So today, while my Mom was gone - I switched doorknobs. I took the doorknob of her door (the master bedroom door) and swapped it with my bedroom doorknob. Now, taking those off was simple and you'd THINK that putting it back would be easy but for some damn reason one of the screws just won't go in all the way and wouldn't you know it - it's my Mom's doorknob. She hasn't noticed yet but I'm sure she will. But heck, Shakil and I need a lock on our door. Not that she would come barging in our room but I'm just making sure!

Keeping my hubby fed is a big task. He likes to have all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Never likes to miss a meal. If he wakes up at noon - he will still have his breakfast and add on lunch stuff at the same time. So since I start back to work on the 15th, he had requested me to pre-make him some burgers that he could just grab out of the freezer and cook 'em up when need be for lunch or something. It's going to be interesting how we manage that first week considering I work three 12 hour shifts in a row. Uff!

Shakil thinks taking care of little Sara will be a breeeeeeeeeeeze. Ha! Yeah, if only it was that easy!! He has no idea what he's in for and it's not like I haven't told him. When I left Pakistan, she wasn't crawling yet. She started crawling a few days after I got back here in the US. So he hasn't been around her since she became more mobile. Oh this is gonna be fun!! He's just going by how she was when I left - well, things have changed...big time!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Nailed it!!

2006-11-06T16:58:00.000-06:00

I went for the interview today. This interview was for an Urgent Care Clinic. I got myself all primped and ready for the interview and headed out a good 45 minutes prior to the time - don't wanna be late ya know! Plus, I really had not been to this area in a long time so I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going.

It took me about 20 minutes to get there and surprisingly, I found the office with no problems. When I pulled up and parked, I kind of checked out the place from my car before getting out. You know...scoping it out! When I walked in, I was very pleased at how nice the clinic is. Typical clinic with a front desk and and waiting area. Nice and well kept. I always like to see that.

It wasn't very busy at the time I went - just after lunch at 1 p.m. I did arrive about 15 minutes early to fill out any necessary application, etc. Upon finishing the application, I was called back pretty quickly. There were 2 women interviewing me. 1 was the wife of one of the doctors and the other was the office manager.

The interview went fantastic!! I discussed the pay and they are willing to pay what I'm asking - which is always good!! I was offered the position and asked if I could return tomorrow to just kind of hang out, get a feel for the place for a few hours. So I have to be there bright and early at 7:45 a.m. I'll be there till noon. I'll start full-time on Monday, the 13th! This time I know for sure I'm hired because they sent me home with the new hire paperwork and benefits, etc.

Thanks for all your kind words after that other crappy experience I had with the last interview. Just wasn't meant for me!

When I got home from the interview, my Mom told me that someone had just called from an office I sent off a resume to last night. I did call them and set up interview for Wednesday. This one is about 10 minutes max from me. Hubby said to go and at least check it out - wouldn't hurt and see who pays more and what I like better.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Would you ever move back to Pakistan?

2006-11-04T10:34:00.000-06:00

This question came up in a yahoo group I belong to and I think it is a really good question. So, I decided to discuss it here on my blog.

When I met my husband in 2003, I knew nothing of the Pakistani culture and when I went to Pakistan in 2004 and got married there - it was a big culture shock I must say. It's not just the culture shock though, it's just all over different there. Which I knew was to be expected but until you get there - you just have no idea.

Poverty is overwhelming in Pakistan. I know there is poverty everywhere and I'm not just singling out Pakistan by any means. It goes without notice there. You see extreme poverty. I've seen poverty here in the U.S. but it's nothing like I saw there. I feel so bad for all the innocent men, women, children and babies there that have no home, no food, no nothing. They have the clothes on their backs and that's it. I've seen many living under a cloth that had been hung over some poles. They are living on the side of the road having to sleep there, eat there, bathe there. Very, very upsetting to see. It really does put things in perspective for you. It makes you more thankful for every little thing you have and to never take things for granted.

Family is big in Pakistan. What I mean by "big" is that there is a lot of closeness. I admire that immensely. Shakil sees so many of his aunts, uncles, cousins and more extended family several times a week. In my family, I'm lucky if I see my brothers once a month, not to mention my extended family - it's even longer than that since I've seen them. All of Shakil's family does live in close proximity of one another but my brothers are only about 30 to 45 minutes away and I think they could make it over here to my Mom's more than just on holidays. 2 of Shakil's mamu's (which would be his uncles but really means "Mom's brother") go visit their father every morning before work from what I've heard and observed. I think that is just wonderful. You can really feel the closeness in the family.

Life is much more simple. I think that people there can really take the time to stop and smell the roses. For most, the working day starts well after 10 a.m. I do know that some start earlier but again, I'm just going by what I've seen and observed. Most businesses do stay open later - well after 9 p.m. Friday's in Pakistan are a whole different story. Friday's in Pakistan are much more laid back and relaxed. ***Jumu'ah also known as Friday prayer is a congregational prayer that Muslims hold every Friday just after noon. It replaces the Zuhr prayer performed on other days of the week and is obligatory for all Muslim males who are residing, pubescent and unexcused. It is an obligation for men to pray the Friday prayer in congregation at a Mosque. It is recommended that Muslim women perform the prayer in congregation, but they have the option of performing the Zuhr prayer privately or in a mosque; going to the mosque is not obligatory. Businesses actually completely shutdown for Jummah prayer and re-open afterwards. I've never seen anything shutdown for prayer in the U.S. and I bet we never will. I wonder how many Muslims are given a hard time by their employer in the U.S. for needing to leave for Jummah prayer?

Cost of living. It is really much cheaper to live in Pakistan. Now, the wages are lower - much lower which would explain the cost of living being so much lower but it really is cheaper to live there than here in the U.S. Now on the other hand, I have seen things in the grocery stores be just about the same in price and most, if not all of the imported items are very pricey. It can be very cheap to go out for a meal. Shakil and I could go eat at Pizza Hut for Rs 600 which is $10 and that included a large pizza, salad and a pitcher of soda - which is a pretty good deal. We'd usually go about once a week. They have great prices on meats usually but then that comes with the hygiene standards not being so good unless you want to pay for the pricier frozen meats for example, chicken. All in all, if you buy something that is locally made, we've noticed it to be much cheaper. Petrol prices are very high there right now. Shakil tells me that it is Rs 57.79 per liter. Now that is almost 1 U.S. dollar per liter. So here in the U.S. where we use gallons - you are looking at almost $4 a gallon. Shakil thinks in some ways it all balances out in regards to the cost of living there and the cost of living here in the U.S.

Domestic help. Now this may be a touchy subject with some and please don't get offended when I explain what I've seen, done and observed. Domestic help is very common in most Pakistani homes. And in many cases, the help is from a young child at the age of 12 or 13. When I went back to Pakistan last year, Shakil arranged for some help for us. It was a female girl and she was young. She was to be a live-in. I have sort of mixed feelings about the domestic help. On one hand, you are helping them by providing them with a better living environment, clothing, healthy food and other things that are given to them. But then I felt bad because she was young and she sure shouldn't have to be working at that age. I became very fond of her and she was really a big help to me after Sara was born. She helped me with laundry, cooking and did most all of the cleaning. She would watch Sara for me while I would try to at least get a shower, she would rock her for me and just really helped me so much. I know this is a normal thing in a lot of Pakistani homes in Pakistan. I never walked into a house that didn't have some sort of domestic help.

So after going over these topics you're probably wondering if I'm ever going to answer if I would ever move back there. The answer is yes. If Shakil finds that later on down the road or just later in our life that we should move back - I'd go. I learned so much during that 1 1/2 years that I lived there and it really did take a full year to get accustomed to things and even still I'm not fully accustomed at all. I still have LOTS to learn and I'll never know it all.

Until later...

Bye for now.

***retrieved information from Wikipedia

Tomorrow's topic...

2006-11-03T17:41:00.000-06:00

Is "Would I ever move back to Pakistan?" So please come back and visit! :)

Until then...

update...

2006-11-03T08:40:00.000-06:00

So I finally heard back about the position. She decided to go the email route and let me down easily that they have already filled the position, we'll keep your resume on file, blah blah blah.

You know I was completely mislead with this position and that is why I'm so bothered and or upset by it. This woman offered me the position with a Nov 13th start date and the emails me now - a week later to tell me its been filled. I mean, the nerve of some people.

Oh well, back to the drawing board....

Do I or don't I?

2006-11-02T16:35:00.000-06:00

So I had an interview last week - Thursday to be exact. It was an Opthamology office where I'd be working in the front office. Something I've done for the past several years. Great office, even better location - 10 to 15 minutes max from home. Absolutely no traffic which rocks!

The interview went really well, the office manager who I will call K walked me around the office and at the end she asked me when I could start and I told her the 13th, she agreed on pay, etc. K said I just needed to meet with one of the docs - the one that owns the practice. K asked if I could return on Monday to meet with him and of course I accepted.

I go in on Monday and meet with the doc. That meeting went really well. The doc just asked me a few questions and at the end asking me when I could start. I responded again with the 13th. He told me he would talk with K and that was that. The meeting was no more than 10 minutes tops. He just told me about the practice, what he was looking for, etc, etc.

Wednesday rolls around and I hadn't heard a thing from that office. So, I decided to put a call in to K and just follow-up. Not bad, right? Well, I didn't get to talk to K. She was on another call and I had to leave a voicemail. Here is what I said in my voicemail:

"Hi K, this is Tara...I'm just calling to follow up and see if you had made a decision regarding the front office position. Hadn't heard anything and I just really needed to know where to go from here. I'd appreciate it if you could please give me a call back at ........ and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, bye."

I had made that call about 4 p.m. and never received a return phone call. I just shrugged it off and chalked it up to being late in the afternoon and she was probably just busy and she'd call me on tomorrow (which is today now).

Well, the morning goes by and again, I hadn't heard anything from her. So, I decided to shoot her an email basically saying the same thing I did in the voicemail - hours go by and no response. I'm talking it over with myself and even hold Sara up a few times and ask her what to do - she of course was pretty quiet about it and didn't have much to offer. I again decided to call the office at about 3 p.m.

So I call and ask for K and they tell me that she is not in the office today. Well, that explains why I got no return phone call and no reply in to the email. But, I did have her cell phone number and I called that and left a brief message, again basically saying the same thing. Now she probably thinks I'm a stalker but it's imperative that I know what the decision is. Thank God, I do have another interview set up at a different office come Monday.

So what do you think? Is she just ignoring me now? Have they not made a decision after she same as offered me the position on the interview day?

Anyways, I've decided that I'm definitely not calling anymore. 2 times I've left voicemails and 1 on K's cell phone. So I think that is enough. I guess I should just take a hint if I don't hear anything by the end of the day tomorrow. But isn't it just common courtesy to let someone know especially if they are leaving a voicemail????

I'm frustrated and now Shakil isn't so happy considering he thought I had already nailed a job and he comes here in 10 days.

::sigh::

Until later...

Bye for now.

Happy Halloween!!!

2006-10-31T15:28:00.000-06:00

Pics of little Sara's first Halloween! :)

Thanks going out to Sobia for this great way of posting photos all at once. Saw it on her blog and used it - very easy and works great!

**ooooooooh, you missed them! And, I even showed a picture of myself and that is just RARE! :)

testing..

2006-10-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

Have no idea what or why or even how to expain but blogger wasn't working right. :/

Until later...

EID MUBARAK!!!!

2006-10-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone who celebrates a blessed Eid. May Allah guide us and bless us with peace and joy always!

Here is a pic of Sara dressed for Eid in her new little outfit that we got her in Pakistan...

**you missed the pic!**

Less than a month now!

2006-10-16T10:14:00.000-05:00

I'm counting down until Shakil gets here!! He'll be here in 28 days!!

Shakil has started making preparations for his return. He gave his employer 30 days notice that he would be leaving which they were very surprised to say the least. He's been trying to figure out what he wants to take back and what he'll leave behind. He told me the other day that he has 6 dress suits that he wants to bring back. Well, if you ask me that is going to take up quite a bit of space with dress shoes too. He's only allowed 50 pounds per piece and per piece being 2 pieces total. Then, he will get to take carryon as well. I'm sure he's having a hard time deciding on everything because you do accumulate quite a bit of stuff after 2 1/2 years.

Preparations for his arrival began here about 2 weeks ago. I had to completely rearrange my bedroom and move furniture around. I did it all by myself somehow. My closet was a big task. I have a big walk-in closet but my clothes were taking up all the space. So, I have created some space for Shakil's clothes.

In other news, baby Sara has 2 little teeth that are starting to come in. Thank God, she really hasn't been that fussy with them. She does have a cough these days. :( Seems like it's just hanging on and won't go away. She acts like she feels great though.

Until later...

Bye for now.

The day is set for hubby's return!

2006-10-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

Yep, that's right - the day is set! Shakil will be here back in the U.S. around the 2nd week of November! I'm counting down and I'm just so excited. You look back on all the hell you've gone through and you just never thought it would finally happen. Immigration isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination and my heart goes out to anyone that is having to deal with it. 2 1/2 years it took for Shakil to finally get word that he would be allowed back.

Baby Sara is keeping me plenty busy these days and I'm just working at getting everything ready for Shakil's arrival. We're going to stay here at my Mom's place for a bit, meaning most likely a year and then move on to our place. Wow, our own place...together...as family. That sounds so nice!!!

I suspect I might be taking a blogging break here pretty soon. I dunno know yet but we'll see.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Baby Sara - almost 8 months!!

2006-09-28T16:55:00.000-05:00

- You missed the pic!!

Can you believe it? Our baby Sara is almost 8 months!!! Sheesh, where does the time go!?!?!

Hubby is coming home!!

2006-09-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

So we knew that Shakil was getting the visa - we just didn't know exactly when. Well, about 2 weeks ago Shakil headed to the American Embassy in Islamabad. He was told he needed to bring a new medical report and 2 police clearances from the two cities he's resided in and his passport. We just knew that they were also going to want to do another FBI check but usually they'll tell you that when you get to the Embassy.

Shakil compiles everything and heads onto Islamabad. He spent a good 2 + hours standing outside before getting in and when you finally get in - you get to wait some more. Finally, after several hours they call him to the window. They asked for the information they requested and responded with "You've got the visa". I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when they said that to Shakil. If you only knew the shit (excuse me) we've been through. Well here if you don't know, here's how it all started . It's just been one hell of a journey. Now, I'm getting sidetracked. He got the visa!!! They told him that they would be sending his passport back to him via courrier with the visa inside within 10 days I believe. It came before that - it was just a few days. We just can't believe it. He now has his visa in hand and is ready to go!!

Shakil has to wrap up some things in Pakistan and then he'll be heading home where baby Sara and I are anxiously awaiting his arrival. Insha'Allah he will be here around the 9th or 10th of November!! We couldn't be happier. We've dreamed of this for 2 1/2 years. Honestly, after some time you really start to give up hope and Shakil was really starting to think that it would never happen. And to be honest wit you...so was I. You just keep waiting, hoping, praying and then finally it happens. It truly is a miracle because we had some big hurdles to get over but we did it together.

Out of those 2 1/2 years thanks to God we have only been apart for 10 months - if that. I've had the privilege to travel back and forth to Pakistan, learn about the culture, the lifestyle, the food, spend time with his family, learn about them, let them get to know me and give birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sara. It's been a heck of a ride but I wouldn't trade it for the world!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Ramadan Mubarak!!!

2006-09-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a blessed Ramadan to all that celebrate!!!

The flight back to Texas from Pakistan Part IV

2006-09-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

After the security woman tells me that I should make it on time to my flight I get in that hell of a line. I bet that line wrapped around 5 times, maybe more. I didn't know how there was possibly going to be a way to make it on time. I did remain hopeful as I checked my watch now every 2 minutes.

I was overhearing others conversations about how they were running late too. Seemed that the security was holding everyone up. Now, don't think I wouldn't appreciate some good security because I do. It just seems when you are running late everything holds you up. You know like when you are in a hurry to get somewhere in your car and you get stopped at every stoplight - that's what I mean.

Sara was just babbling up a storm while we were in line and I heard some comments that they couldn't believe that she was acting so good. If they only knew she just got off an 18 hour flight they'd be shocked!

I'm looking down at my watch and I see that it's minutes from 7 p.m. Flight leaves at 7:15 p.m. We finally reach the entrance to go through the metal detector. You have to take your shoes off first, put your carry-on and all other items in a bin ready for them to scan. Sara and I walk through the metal detector which by the way, I was asked if they ever made me take Sara out of her carrier. The answer is nope, they sure didn't. She stayed strapped onto me with no problems regarding security.

We head through the medal detector and no beeps but wouldn't ya know it - they stopped me to search my carry-on. They said they saw something that looked like liquid. I couldn't imagine what it could be. Hand sanitizer, maybe - I thought? It was all locked up and I had to get it unlocked for the security. She opened it up and found it to be Sara's liquid infant vitamins. She said that it was fine since it was for the baby. I half ass closed up that bag, asked the security how far my gate was and she said it was a 5 minute walk. Sara and I were off - we were running!!! That 5 minute run felt like forever and we finally arrived to the gate at 7:10 p.m. Literally, 5 minutes to spare before they closed the gate. They took my boarding pass and we were on our way....home!!!

We get on the plane, find our seat and I'm still just sweating. I sat down in that seat, took Sara out of her carrier and just took a deep breath. Felt so good to sit down and relax for a bit knowing that I made it on time and within 45 minutes time I'd be home. Sara took a big bottle of formula and was out like a light. She slept on my shoulder the entire flight. I enjoyed a glass of Sprite because my tummy was a bit upset and before I knew it - we were starting to descend into my hometown.

I was on an aisle seat so I couldn't see much out the window but from what I saw, all I could think of is that I'm finally home. It is truly such a mixed feeling all at once. I was happy and sad. Happy to be home and sad to leave Shakil on the other side of the world. I always remained hopeful and I just knew one day he'd have that visa in his hand. We knew he'd get it but when...?

The plane lands and we taxi over to the gate. The man sitting next to me on the aisle made the comment that I sure had a good baby. I did tell him that she just got off an 18 hour flight and he couldn't believe it. I think they expected her to cry the whole flight but she didn't!! ha ha!!

Sara and I got off that plane and exited out the door. My Mom, my brother, my best friend Steph and her baby that is 2 months younger than Sara - never seen her yet were all going to be waiting for us. When walking to baggage claim there is a glass area that you can see the baggage claim. There they all were waiting, Sara and I waived and I could already feel the tears starting to come. I was so relieved to make it there - on time at that!

We walked out and they just ran over to hug us. It was such a good feeling!! We collected my luggage and all went out to dinner and had a great time. Surprisingly, the next day I didn't have much jet-lag at all. Sara slept the whole night and has been sleeping all night ever since. I couldn't ask for a better baby!!

The end.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Survivors ready!?!?!

2006-09-14T00:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the premier of Survivor Cook Islands - I'm so excited!! This season should be pretty interesting with it being divided up into 4 ethnic groups. White, African-American, Latino and Asian. I can't wait!!

Freaky!

2006-09-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

A Palestinian shows how a folded twenty dollar bill appears to show the World Trade Center buildings on fire. Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has warned that the Gulf and Israel would be the next targets of Al-Qaeda, in a video message coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.(AFP/Hazem Bader)

The flight back to Texas from Pakistan Part III

2006-09-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

You know it just seems like forever to get off the plane nowadays. It just seemed as if the line to get off was not moving at all. Finally, I reach the doorway to get off. The flight attendant says Allah Hafiz and I respond back with Allah Hafiz and I was on my way. I already had Sara strapped onto me in her baby carrier and we were just walking as fast as we could. We were on our way to immigration. I'm still looking down at my watch checking the time every few minutes.

Just when we're about to reach the immigration area - we all get stopped by immigration officials. I couldn't believe it nor did I know what was going on. I of course voiced that I had a connecting flight to catch but it really didn't help much. They said the reason we were stopped was because there was a flight that just came in from UK and those passengers require escort. Whaaaaaaat?? Escort? We just came in from Pakistan which they seem to think is a high risk country and we didn't get an escort. The officials said they were really getting fed up with having to escort every UK flight coming in. So, the reason for the hold up was to separate those passengers from us. They had to go to a completely different area than us.

Few minutes go by, I check my watch again and we're on our way again. When you reach the immigration area in Houston - it's huge! There are lines for foreigners and US citizens. The lines seemed pretty long and I was looking for the shortest line but I always manage to get in the longest even though it looks the shortest.

Finally, its our turn and the immigration officer scans Sara and I's passports and we're finished with the immigration portion. Again, I'm rushing as fast as I can to get to our next stop which is collecting my baggage. I grabbed a cart and headed over to the carousel to just wait. At this point, you really start to think why the heck was I rushing - rushing to get to baggage claim and wait again. So I'm standing there with Sara still strapped onto me (btw, those carriers couldn't be convenient - they're great for travel). There were a nice couple standing next to me and the woman started playing with baby Sara and Sara of course just ate it up - she loved it. I made mention to them that I was in a hurry because I had a connecting flight. They asked me where "home" was and I told them. They guy said, "well you only got about 45 minutes left to fly". 45 minutes sure sounds better than the 18 hours I just finished.

About 10 minutes pass by and the baggage starts to come out. I'm looking and looking for my baggage, don't see it...still don't see it. Then, the belt that baggage comes out on - stopped working! For crying out loud, I couldn't believe it! Just my luck. So the baggage guys start tossing out the luggage - nice huh? Yeah right! I'm looking down at my watch and it was almost 6:30 p.m. My flight is leaving in 45 minutes is all I could think of and I still didn't have my bags yet nor gone through customs. I just knew I wasn't going to make it.

All of the sudden they apparently got the belt working again and baggage is coming out. I'm looking and looking and then I see my big red piece of luggage come out. That couple were still standing next to me and the woman's husband offered to pull the luggage off the carousel for me. So nice. When it comes around to me, he pulled it off and put it on the cart for me. During this time, they had already collected their luggage but waited to help me with mine. It was just so nice of them and you know there aren't so many people that would do something like that. I really appreciated it. My next 2 bags came out almost right after the first one. I thanked that really nice couple for their help and Sara and I headed towards customs.

I look at my watch again and it is just after 6:30 p.m. I was expecting this to take a bit of time because last time they made us go through a different area. I wheel my cart and all the luggage up to the desk where the customs official is. He takes my customs declaration, gives me a "how are you"?, kind of looks at me and says I can go on. Whewwwwww, was I pleased!! Once you leave out of customs, the check-in counter for Continental Airlines is right there in front of you. Really couldn't be more convenient. I head over to the check-in counter and I'm standing there in the line. No one else is in the line but me. 2, maybe 3 women working the counter and they are just chatting and taking their sweet time. I'm all but stomping my foot waiting and once again...checking the time. It was about 6:35 p.m. - connecting flight due to leave at 7:15 p.m.

Finally, the woman calls me up to the counter. I told her I have a flight to catch at 7:15 p.m. and asked her if I was too late. She said "no, do you already have your boarding pass"? I told her no. She took my id, checked me in, printed the stickers for the baggage, slapped them on my baggage and they were off. She handed me my boarding pass and told me to hurry.

I throw everything in Sara's diaper bag and she and I head toward the escalator and go upstairs where we have to go through security - yet again. I arrive at the security entrance and I can feel the sweat bullets start to run down my forehead. Again, looking at the watch, it's about 6:45 p.m. The line is long and it wraps around a few times. At this point I KNOW I'll never it make it on time. I ask the attendant if she thinks I'll make it and she said "yeah, you should". Should or I will - that's what I really wanted to say.

Part IV will be out soon!!

Hubby had a fall...

2006-09-06T17:28:00.000-05:00

My Mom and I heard the phone ring this morning and its normal for my Mom to automatically look at the caller id to see who it is. She didn't recognize the number and I told her to answer it because it could be Shakil. Well, she didn't answer in time and turns out it was Shakil calling from his mobile. I immediately got a bit snappy with her telling her she's got to answer the phone.

Well, a minute or so passed by and Shakil called back again. First thing he says is "Hey Tara, what's up - I had an accident". Uhmmmm...needless to say, that was a bit frightening for me to hear. I automatically thought - car accident. I then asked what happened and he told me he fell.

He was taking a shower and had left his mobile on the bed. During the shower, he hears the phone ringing. He immediately jumps out of the shower and runs to the phone, slipping and falling on his way. He fell down and hit his head, hurt his shoulder and banged up his elbow. :( All of that to get to a phone ringing and turned out someone dialed the wrong number!! Sheesh.

Poor Shakil had to get ready and drive himself to hospital where he had to get stitches in his head. They did some x-rays and he didn't break anything thank God but he's pretty bruised up and in a lot of pain. He's on some antibiotics and is taking something for the pain.

Times like this I really wish I was with him. :( I called him back later to check on him and he kept reassuring me that he was ok. I've lectured him before about running to answer the phone and don't think I didn't do it again today. He's got to stop running to get the phone. I mean, whoever it is can call back for goodness sake. He made the comment that he just needs me there by his side. :( I'm just thankful that God was watching over him because he was all alone at home and what if he had been knocked unconscious... just scary stuff.

I'll give him a call tomorrow and check up on him again. He's over at his parents house so I know they are taking good care of him.

Part III of the flight back to Texas from Pakistan will be posted pretty soon!

Until later...

Bye for now.

The flight back to Texas from Pakistan Part II

2006-09-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

The lady sitting next to me on the flight was pretty chatty. I'm not complaining at all because sometimes having someone to talk to can make the flight seem somewhat shorter. Her daughter was 4 years old and a little on the spoiled side and kept whining that she wanted to go sit about 4 rows back with this little boy that she met. So that did get a tad annoying after listening to about 20 minutes of it.

The plane takes off and once we are leveled out in the air, I call for the flight attendant regarding the bassinet. The flight attendant comes and brings one for me. Now, one of the reasons I chose to sit bulkhead was because I knew that the bassinet would attach right in front of me. The flight attendant is just working and working trying to get it attached and it is not one that attaches. So they just put it on the ground at my feet - which took away any leg/foot room I had. The bassinet was just pathetic. I described it to someone as a lined cardboard box. Not at all comfy for a baby.

Since I you're not allowed water on the flights due to security reasons, I had to call the flight attendant to get water for Sara's bottle. Flight attendant was not so prompt with coming so I just got up and went to the back of the plane and asked for water. The flight attendant filled up the bottle and offered me the rest of the bottle of water which was nice because that would make it where I didn't have to keep calling them for water. Sara took her bottle and went right to sleep. It was a bit hard at first getting her to lay in the bassinet. The lady next to me helped getting a blanket doubled and put in it there for some padding. I'd lay Sara down and she'd instantly just raise her head up, then up on her knees and would cry. I just kept trying and it wasn't long before Sara just gave up and went to sleep.

Since Sara was asleep that enabled me to eat. They are pretty prompt with getting food out once the plane takes off. The first meal was eggs (like omelet style), some chicken pieces or what looked like chicken and cup of Nestle yogurt. I couldn't eat the eggs because they just didn't taste right nor the chicken. I ate the yogurt though - it was pretty tasty.

I'd chat on and off with the lady next to me and again she was just so nice and so helpful. She told me if I needed any help with Sara, to hold or whatever just to let her know that it wasn't a problem and she didn't mind at all. There was a man to the right of me and he was pretty quiet and didn't say anything to me until the very end of the flight.

So this leg of the flight was from Lahore to Manchester. That's about an 8 hour flight. I really don't think I slept more than an hour that leg of the flight. The next meal they came out with was I think Chicken Biryani and again I was able to eat since Sara was still asleep. Wasn't bad but I really couldn't eat much. I did have a cup of tea though which was nice.

Those 8 long hours start to come to an end when I feel the plane start to descend. It's a good feeling to know that you are halfway home but boy was I feeling tired. Sara slept that whole 8 hours - not even waking up once. The plane lands and Sara was still sleeping in the bassinet and everyone was not sure whether or not we were going to have to disembark. I've taken this flight before and you are told to disembark, go through security, then to the gate and back on the same plane. I've always found it to be ridiculous since we are going back to the same plane. So we're all just sitting there on the plane wondering what they are going to make us do and just when we thought we were not going to have to get off - they tell us we have to get off. Sheesh. I had to wake up Sara, grab my carry-on luggage and get off the plane.

Once off the plane, we head to security where there is a HUGE line. It seemed that line was moving so slow. Sara managed to stay content for about 20 minutes and then started to fuss. I had to get a bottle ready while standing in line and feed her while standing in line. She took the whole bottle and stayed content the rest of the time thank goodness. We were in line for about 2 hours - maybe more when we finally made it to the area where they scan your baggage and make you walk through the metal detector and possibly get frisked or patted down I'd say. Sara and I walk through the metal detector and they take Sara's diaper bag off to the side to search. They of course take EVERYTHING out and lay it out on the table. They took Sara's Panadol (which is like liquid infant Tylenol), diaper rash cream telling me that neither are allowed. I wasn't happy because that was medicine for Sara if she was to get sick, fever or something on the flight or just needed something to relax. Thank God I didn't need it.

Once through security we have to go upstairs and find which gate to go to and just wait. Finally, the time comes when we get to board again. The lady that sat next to me and grabbed some Burger King for her little girl and was taking that on board. When we made it back to our seats she pulls out some onion rings and said she got them for me. Nice, huh?!?! Those onion rings tasted damn good! Don't think I didn't just devour them up! Plane takes off again and we're off for the last leg of the journey home - about 9 hours to go. We spent a total of about 3 hours that the Manchester airport which is normally only about 45 minutes to an hour. Needless to say, I was a bit bothered about the delay considering I had a connecting flight to catch in Houston that would take me home.

Sara was awake for a couple of hours before she napped again. I forgot to mention that we were flying an older 747 that didn't have diaper changing table in the bathroom. So, I would have to lay Sara down on the toilet lid with a small cribsheet that I brought to change her diaper. Not fun and not easy at all!! The pee-pee diapers, I'd change in my seat but the poo-poo diapers I'd have to head to the teenie tiny restroom.

The next meal that came out was pretty much a snack of chicken sandwiches and some other stuff. I can't even remember now. Maybe because by that time, I was getting delirious. I had been up wayyyyyyyyy too long. I was up all day and night before leaving so that didn't help much.

I'm watching my watch those last couple of hours just hoping that we'll make it to Houston on time but I knew it just wasn't going to happen. It was looking as if we were going to land at 5:30 p.m. which we should be landing at 4 p.m. My flight was due to leave at 7:15 p.m. I was just so afraid I was going to miss the flight due to the delay in UK.

Last meal served was Chicken Korma. I couldn't even eat a bite of it. I pretty much just polished off the dessert which was some Kheer and it was really good. I think I was just getting really anxious about getting to Houston. Sara was just so good the entire flight. I bet if you calculated up how much she fussed the whole time - it would only add up to 1 hour. I could not have asked for a better baby. She was just wonderful.

The plane starts the descent into Houston - I'm keeping an eye on my watch just hoping and hoping to make it in time but knowing that I have to go through immigration, wait for baggage, go through customs and I just knew I could NEVER make it on time.

When the plane lands it is about 5:30 p.m. and we taxi over to the gate. By the time, Sara and I get off the plane it was 5:45 p.m. and I'm all but biting my nails just wanting to run.

The flight back to Texas from Pakistan Part I

2006-08-30T18:25:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, I must say - it feels so good to be home!! But..and a big BUT...it will never be home until Shakil is here with baby Sara and I.

Shakil, baby Sara and I went over to the inlaws my last evening in Pakistan and stayed there until it was time for baby Sara and I to go to the airport. The in-laws house is closer to the airport and plus, it would give the in-laws some more time with baby Sara. When we got there, which was after midnight I think they were still awake awaiting us I assume. We just sat in their bedroom and chatted and of course my in-laws just loved on baby Sara as much as they could. It was really sweet.

2:30 a.m. rolls around and it was time for us to go. As I sat there at the in-laws I almost hoped that time would come to a standstill and I could make the moment last longer. I just didn't want to leave my husband. :( We got everything packed up in the car and headed out. I said my goodbyes to FIL and gave MIL a goodbye hug. They walked us out and we were on our way to the airport.

It seemed like a pretty long drive to the airport or I was just thinking or hoping it would last longer. I wanted to enjoy those last moments with my husband as long as possible. We pull into the airport and drive up to security. You have to pull over this hump so they can look or try to look under your car to check if we're hiding a bomb under it. Shakil pulls up to the international departures and I take a deep breath. He gets out to go check the flight status. My flight was due to leave at 5:50 a.m. and we arrived just shy of 3 a.m. I sat in the car with Sara and waited for him to get back.

He comes back to the car and says, "it's time - they are already checking in". I feel that big lump in my throat and I just felt so sad and so happy all at the same time. You know, you'd think I'd be a pro at this by now - having to leave hubby and deal with the separation but you never are. It always feels as if I've never done it before and it just feels awful leaving him there.

Shakil gets a porter to help me with my luggage. I had 2 big pieces of luggage, 1 carry-on that was going to have to be checked baggage and Sara's diaper bag. The diaper bag just had the bare essentials which did include a bottle of water for her but the porter said that they would make me get rid of it. So, I gave it back to Shakil. The porter takes over with the luggage and Shakil walks baby Sara and I to the terminal.

I was in western clothing - a pair of capri pants and a t-shirt so you can imagine how many stares I got. It's not that common for a woman to be walking around showing some leg, even just a little. I wanted to be comfortable on that flight and last time I flew, I noticed how many were wearing western clothing. I flew PIA for those who have no idea why I was concerned about clothing. But you know, to be honest with you - I didn't care. I just wanted to be comfy on that 18 hour flight with a 7 month old.

Shakil paid the porter in advance for me and I'm pretty sure that's how it's handled anyway. There I am standing looking at the entrance to the terminal dreading leaving and I tell Shakil to say goodbye to Sara again and give her a kiss. He gives her the last kiss and leans over to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek. It's not that common for much public display of affection in Pakistan.

I think I did pretty well. I was able to keep the tears from just flowing down my face. If Sara sees me cry, she'll cry too. I just kept my composure, told Shakil I loved him and headed straight into the terminal. Once you walk into the terminal there is a table off to the side where last time they asked me some questions but this time I breezed on through. They didn't stop me. I say it was because I had a baby with me. The porter takes my luggage to be scanned. Men have to walk through the metal detector and women are taken off to a curtained area to the side where you are basically frisked or patted down.

When you get through security it opens up to all the check-in counters. PIA is the biggest counter of course and the line was outrageous. There was another flight to the U.S. heading to New York that was about to depart and believe it or not there were still people going through check-in. I got in line with the porter and stood there for a good hour. Sara kept everyone entertained with her noises she makes. I really think she liked the way her voice echoed. I had her strapped onto me with a baby carrier and it worked great not having to hold her.

About an hour and a half into waiting, the porter who surprisingly spoke some good English said that I could go sit down and he'd stay in line and watch the baggage. He didn't have to tell me twice - I was ready to sit down! I grabbed Sara's diaper bag that had all the important stuff and went to sit down. I was sitting next to a very nice lady who was traveling alone with 2 children and she was just very friendly to me and I enjoyed talking to her and it made the time go by quicker.

Finally, it was my turn to go check in. I walk up to the counter and the man takes our passports and tickets. He does his thing with them and issues boarding passes for us. I confirm with him that I am indeed sitting in bulkhead and I also wanted to confirm that the bassinet was going to be available. Of course, the guy couldn't tell me crap and told me to ask when I got on board. I wasn't happy with his answer but what else could I do ya know. He finishes up and tells me he needs 2 copies of Sara and I's passports. Uhmmmm...I tell the man, "I have 1 copy of them". He says that they now require 2 copies and I had to go get copies done. I had to go pay Rs 35 for each per copy. Now that is not cheap for Pakistan. It's a rip off! Plus, I had to stand in line again and the men were just so rude trying to get in front of me. This one man walked over with like 6 or 7 passports and just got right in front of me. I did speak up and tell him that the line was behind me and he was going to have to wait because I had been waiting. He did apologize but it was a sassy apology. Sheesh.

So I got the damn copies, took them back to the check-in counter. Sara and I were on our way. Next stop, immigration. I'm in the line for foreigners and walk up to the immigration officer. He takes our passports and takes a bit longer looking at Sara's. Now, Sara was born in Pakistan but I had her birth registered with the American Embassy as "birth abroad". The officer looks up at me and says, "where's her visa"? I was a bit shocked but firmly responded that she was born in Pakistan and I could provide birth certificate if he needed. Plus, on her U.S. passport it does say she was born in Pakistan. Come on, read!! I told him that it was the first time she's traveling. He didn't give me anymore hassle and let us head on out.

I had arrived at the airport about 3 a.m. and didn't get to the gate until about 5:15 a.m. My flight was due to leave at 5:50 a.m. So when I got the gate, I didn't even have to wait. We were able to go straight onto the plane which was nice. We got onto the plane, found our seat and it was indeed bulkhead. There was the nicest woman and child sitting next to us. She immediately introduced herself and child to me and we just chatted until the plane took off. It's always hard when the plane takes off. Just sitting there thinking of my hubby that I'm leaving behind.

I'm home!!!

2006-08-26T14:54:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say that baby Sara and I made it home to the U.S.!! It feels so wonderful to here! Over 24 hours to get home so needless to say - I'm EXHAUSTED or I'd post more. Let me get past the big time jet lag and I'll be back soon!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Goodbye Pakistan!

2006-08-23T17:44:00.000-05:00

I don't mean that to sound like I'm just so happy to leave here. I'm happy to be leaving to see my family after 1 year but I'm not happy about leaving my hubby here! :( It's never easy regardless of how soon he gets to the U.S.

This is my last post until I reach the U.S.!! Please keep baby Sara and I in your prayers that we make it to the U.S. safely.

Until later...

Bye for now.

America

2006-08-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

You know I'm going to get all emotional when I get back to the U.S. when I start to cry hearing the song "America" by Neil Diamond. This evening I was watching an episode of Oprah and she had Neil Diamond on. He comes on the stage and I start to hear the music of "America" and tears just start to flow. I sniffled the entire song!!! I grew up listening to Neil Diamond and I can remember knowing the words to many, many songs at a young age because that was ALL my Mom played in the car. My Mom is a BIG fan of Neil.

Today, Shakil and I went to get some items that I need to take back to the U.S. Shakil also wanted me to cook some chicken for him - Chicken karahi to be exact. Now, the chicken we buy is frozen and I was hoping to get this cooked before he goes to work at 4:30 p.m. We get home and it is soooo hot in the kitchen and already I'm getting bitchy about cooking in the heat. Shakil did say he could just pick something up and take it to work. Then, he said he'd just cook the chicken. So then I start to feel bad and I tell him to just help me prep for it and he did. Very nice, eh? I didn't end up cooking the Karahi. I cooked another dish that takes less time. Anyways, I got it cooked in time and he was able to have some before going to work. Not bad.

Tonight is Shakil's last day of work before he gets 4 days off!! He requested to take off the whole week that I leave. So he doesn't go back to work until Friday night and I leave EARLY Friday. So, I look forward to spending some quality time with him before we leave. Plus, he'll get some special time with baby Sara!

I still can't believe I've been here 1 year. I never thought I'd last this long here because it's just not easy at all here for me. I could never really adjust here because there was always that part of me that wanted to go back to the U.S. as soon as possible. Things are easier this time emotionally since Shakil will be coming soon. I dunno though, I'm still gonna cry when I leave! :(

Until later...

Bye for now.

New pics of baby Sara!!!

2006-08-18T14:41:00.000-05:00

I had a request for some new pics of Sara and here are some of Sara that were taken very recently. She is now 6 1/2 months - can ya believe it?!?!? She has almost mastered crawling and is starting to pull up and stand. She is just so proud of herself when she does. It's too cute! Anyway, I could go on and on about her - enjoy the pics!! :)

You missed 'em!! They've come and gone.

Until later...

Bye for now.

1 week left and the pressure builds!!!

2006-08-17T06:55:00.000-05:00

1 week left here for me here and the pressure is building for Shakil. What I mean by pressure is - pressure by his family. Since Shakil was forced to come back here in January of 2004, his family has been on his case about making some big money here. Well, we all know that you can't make the big money over night and most people never make "the big money" or whatever that is. It's just not that easy and if it was so easy, don't ya think he'd already have done it?!?!

Shakil comes from a very influential family and most of them think that Shakil has done nothing here. Like he really needs to get up off his ass and make the big bucks to maintain some sort of "status" as they like to refer to it here. Shakil is not a lazy person by any stretch of the imagination. He's worked for and paid for everything he has. Shakil had some big culture shock when he was forced back here in 2004 - it had been over 10 years since he lived here. It took a bit for him to get his bearings and see what he needed to do here. He worked for his grandfathers company for over a year and decided to go out on his own and find something better and he did but just not enough compared to what he was making in the U.S. Since then, he's been working to find something better because he or I really had no idea when his visa would be approved. Here we are over 2 1/2 years later and it's finally getting processed! :)

So the family is really putting on the pressure now because of the visa finally getting processed. They want us to settle here in Pakistan. They feel that Shakil and I will be happier here and financially we'll be making more money here. Well, most don't make as much here as you can in the U.S. But, believe it or not there are people making millions here. You know, it's not just about money with us. We feel we just have better opportunities in the U.S. and that is where we want to raise baby Sara. It's our choice, no one elses.

I knew the family would really start to get on Shakil's ass when the visa came to an end. I feel bad for him because I know its going to get even harder on him once I leave. The family will see that I won't be here to influence him so much and maybe they can pursuade him. They can try but I'm glad that Shakil is able to stand his ground and do what he feel is best forb he, I and baby Sara.

So I leave in 1 week!! Can you believe it!?!?! It's finally here and I'm so excited. I cannot wait to see my family after 1 year. I've looked back on my time spent here and it feels like forever since I've been back home. It feels good to know that I can leave here and I don't have to come back. Well, I don't have to come back and live. Soon, Shakil and I will be able to start our life - a whole new life in the U.S. together as a family.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Getting close - the countdown is on!

2006-08-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

I have about 11 more nights here in Pakistan and then baby Sara and I are off to the U.S. The whole mixed feelings sort of thing is settling in once again. Part of me is so happy to be leaving to go see my family that I haven't seen in a year and the other part of me is sad about leaving Shakil here once again. I do think it will be a bit different this time considering the visa process is finished - meaning they're going to be granting the visa now. I know he'll be following behind me shortly and joining baby Sara and I in the U.S. where we will be settling. Then, we will only be returning to Pakistan for vacations.

Shakil called my airline to see what guidelines they were following and they are following the same guidelines as UK - meaning all my carry-on will have to go in plastic bags. I hear they are only allowing the bare essentials. This makes it a bit difficult for mothers traveling with infants. This is for our safety so I know it's for the best.

I still know that it's going to be hard walking into that airline terminal and turning to wave bye to Shakil with baby Sara in my arms - leaving him behind. I dread that moment - really I do.

Until later...

Bye for now.

No invitation needed...

2006-08-11T08:04:00.000-05:00

Well, not really I would say. Tuesday and Wednesday Shakil was off work and we spent both days over at my FIL/MIL's. Now, I asked him on Wednesday if we went then I'd like for us not to go on Friday since he was off again. I'd like for us to do something just he, I and baby Sara. I don't think it's too much to ask really considering on Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the entire day over there and we didn't home until late.

So here it is Friday and MIL calls asking if we're coming over. My hubby has a big problem with saying no we're not coming so he just said he didn't know and he also informed MIL that it was me that didn't want to go over there - nice, huh? Not really considering he agreed himself that we wouldn't go on Friday. So we're sitting here with not much to do and I tell Shakil that we can go but I just don't want to stay there all day. We can go have lunch and spend an hour or so, then return home. He agreed. So we get ready and head over to FIL/MIL's.

We arrive there at the gate and the watchman informs us that MIL is not there. This has happened before that MIL just leaves. But, this time I understood because Shakil did tell her he didn't know if we were coming and that I didn't want to go, remember? So watchman says that MIL has gone over to her fathers house. We head over there and I told Shakil on the way if there was a LOT of people there that I didn't want to stay. These days with Shakil's grandparents being back from London after 4 months, it's been hopping with lots of relatives.

We walk inside and I already hear a dull roar of voices. The door to the main room was open just slightly and I peek in - it was full and I do mean full of women. Shakil's grandmother was there, some cousins and some others. I turned around and told Shakil that I wasn't staying. I just didn't feel comfortable because I wasn't invited. I didn't see any men either so Shakil should have felt a bit uncomfortable too.

We come home and Shakil devours some Biryani and then he takes baby Sara and I to McDonalds. We sat there for quite a while then went to pick up some chicken at the supermarket and headed home. We hadn't been home 30 minutes when MIL calls. She says that we came over there to his grandfathers but didn't even come in as if it was all our fault or something. He informed her that we weren't invited and then she didn't say anything after that. She didn't even answer her cell phone the entire afternoon either. I mean can we say rude?

Until later...

Bye for now.

A close call...

2006-08-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Another rainy day here again. It was gloomy outside all day. I don't think any sun peeked out at all until right before it was about to set. Shakil, baby Sara and I didn't roll out of bed until well after 1 p.m. I had been up before to feed Sara and all though. Now remember we stay up pretty late because of Shakil's working hours. Last night we were watching the movie "The Notebook" at about 3 a.m. - which btw we enjoyed it. I guess we like sappy movies.

So we roll out of bed at like 1 p.m. and we head downstairs to have some lunch which was leftover Biryani which for some reason didn't turn out as well this time. I've made it several times now and it's always been pretty good. This time it was kind of bland. I may have added too much water now that I think about it. Well, I did add some more masala in hopes to kick it up a notch.

Shakil left for work at his normal time and I was in the mood to get some cleaning and laundry done. Laundry Tara, what the hell happened? Well, it needed to be done and it sure wasn't going to get done by itself. I didn't know how I was going to get it done because of the rain. I hang the clothes outside and it is no fun pulling clothes off the line in the rain lemme tell ya!

I started off getting the laundry done and when I finished the laundry I decided to go ahead and start the sweeping and then I'd mop. Well, with this humidity right now I was looking for a way to get the cleaning done and not just be a pool of sweat by the time I was finished or during for that matter. So, I decided to do the sweeping/mopping in just my bath towel. Yes, you read that right...my bath towel. Call me nuts, crazy but it worked...for a while.

I went downstairs and I was finishing up sweeping when I got to thinking. "What if my father-in-law and brother-in-law show up"? They always come by at least once a week - sometimes more because my FIL has some things stored here. But I thought nawww, they won't come by today and kept on with what I was doing. When I finished I grabbed up the mop bucket and was going to take it upstairs and then I heard a car door slam and then another car door. I thought "no way...it couldn't be". I quickly went upstairs and checked and yep, my FIL and BIL had come. THANK GOD, I made upstairs before they arrived. I can't even imagine what they would have thought seeing me cleaning in just a bath towel. How embarrassing!!!! LOL

Until later...

Bye for now.

The stolen lunch.

2006-08-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

The morning started out rainy here and of course I had clothes out on the line. Baby Sara woke up about 7 a.m. and I noticed it was raining. I scooped up baby Sara out of her crib and put her in bed with Shakil. I went outside and got all the clothes off the line which probably were almost dry because I had put them out the night before. Gotta love it, but ya don't gotta like it! It rained the entire day though and I thought I'd take advantage of the cooler weather and cook up some biryani for the hubby.

Prepping for biryani sure does take me a while. Also, the fact that my good knife SUCKS doesn't help too much either. I do have a mini food processor but I stress the mini. It's really a waste of time for me to try and use the processor to cut up my onions, etc even with the dull knife. I started at about 1:30 p.m. and wasn't finished with the entire dish until 3:30 p.m. I was of course drenched with sweat. The idea that it might be cooler because of the rain was so not the case. The humidity was in full effect. It felt cool outside but inside was a steam bath - at least in the kitchen anyway.

When I finished up I pulled out one of my glad containers. You know those reusable plastic containers? They are pretty nifty. I put some biryani for Shakil and that was going to be his lunch to take to work. I left it on the counter for him since he was going to be leaving for work in about 30 minutes.

Point of this post is that this evening I get an email from Shakil. He asks me if he left his lunch behind at home. I go downstairs and check everywhere and no, he didn't leave it behind. I email him back and tell him and he emails back again informing me that someone stole his lunch! How could someone steal his lunch? Just pathetic. He asked all his coworkers and his supervisor and of course no one knows anything. So my poor hubby had no lunch tonight. :-( They have a cafeteria there and he can order something but he spent his entire lunch which is 30 minutes searching and asking about his stolen lunch. He says he can get something on his break. Well, that makes me feel a little better that he's not gonna starve until he gets home!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Little of this...little of that...

2006-08-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

Shakil was off the past 2 days and back at work today. Wednesday we went over to the in-laws and spent most of the day there. My sister-in-law is here from London with her 2 kids. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her in person or Shakil's older brother. Shakil's brother was supposed to be coming too but unfortunately had to have some surgery and that has prevented him from coming at the moment. I haven't even met his older brother in person yet either. I've talked to both of them on the phone but in person is all together different. I really don't think I'm going to get the opportunity to meet his brother because he's probably going to get here after I've left. I'm heading back to the states in 3 weeks!!!

My sister-in-law is a very pleasant person. She has always been so nice on the phone and was very nice in person. She seems a bit quiet but she did tell me she's just been exhausted. Her kids are very well behaved and she is quite strict with them. For example, she is limiting their ice-cream. My mother-in-law sent the driver for ice-cream and my sister-in-law had told one of the kids that she already had her ice-cream for the day and she wasn't allowed to have any more. Of course, my MIL was pushing to get her to have it but my SIL really pushed right back with a big NO, she can't have it. My SIL said that she allows them to have ice-cream once a day and then that's it - no more. I did feel bad when the other kids were eating ice-cream and then there is one sitting there that can't have any.

In the evening, Shakil, baby Sara and I went for swimming. We had bought Sara a new inflatable tube that she could sit in and float in and we had been anxious to give it a try. When we put Sara in it she gave us a big ol' grin so I knew it was going to work out well. We spent about an hour or so there and then we were going to head out for dinner. We went home and changed and got ready to go for dinner. We left with the intention of going to McDonalds but they built this realllllllllly and I do mean REALLY nice Subway next door to the McDonalds. Shakil and I were saying how we never saw a Subway in the U.S. that was this nice. So we decided to go to Subway. We walked inside, sat down in a booth and were looking over the menu. We must have pondered over the menu for like 20 minutes and then decided to just go to Pizza Hut. I swear we always end up at Pizza Hut. We got home about 2 a.m. and didn't get to bed until well after 4 a.m. 9 a.m. rolls around and the phone rings - it's MIL. She calls to tell Shakil that the cable is out. What the heck? She knowssssss we don't get to bed until late most of the time and she just had to call bright and early to say the damn cable is out. Sheesh.

Yesterday we went back over to the in-laws again. We were first going to go buy this new shopping mall but I did suggest that we should call up MIL and see if she wanted to go. Nice of me, eh? Shakil was prepared to just go ahead without MIL but at the very last minute he decided that maybe we should go by and pick up MIL - we were close by. It took MIL like an hour to get ready and go and Shakil decided that he'd call up the SIL and ask if they wanted to go out for lunch with us. Lunch weren't really in the plans but Shakil thought it would be a nice gesture.

So an hour later - maybe longer, MIL was ready to go. We got everything ready to go and headed over to SIL's house to pick up she and the kids. We were of course invited inside and were served a glass of juice and snacked on some nuts. By the way, the nuts were very good. They were cashews that were coated in what seemed to be black pepper and surprisingly very tasty. The were another plate of cashews that were spicy and didn't give those a try. I love spicy don't get me wrong but I didn't want to seem like the oh so hungry one going after all the cashews.

We headed over to McDonalds and I had the McArabia combo with a mango shake. MIL had the same thing, SIL didn't eat, the kids ate and Shakil nibbled on my fries and had sips of my shake and finished off my sandwich. We were going to go the new shopping mall when we finished but I was just really tired from the 4 hours sleep the night before and anxious to get home and catch some sleep.

We hadn't been back at the in-laws house more than 30 minutes and started getting sick to my stomach. The longer I sat there the sicker and sicker I started to feel. Then you start getting that feeling in your throat and I knew that I needed to go puke. I ran straight to the restroom and puked. I did feel somewhat better afterwards but it all started again on our way home. Luckily, I made it home without puking anymore. When we got home I spent about an hour or so puking and I couldn't even keep down pepto-bismol or water for that matter. I dunno know what happened. MIL had the same food and Shakil had some of it and they had no problems. My bad luck I guess. I think I got to sleep about 10 p.m. which was great and slept until 6 a.m. when baby Sara got up.

Today I have felt much better and no more problems. Shakil even brought me home a burger when he went to pick up some grocery items I needed and it has settled just fine with my stomach.

So I mentioned in my first paragraph that I have 3 weeks left until I leave!!! I soooooooo can't wait!!!! I can't believe it's been 1 year since I've been back to the states. I really miss home.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Congratulations!!!!

2006-08-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

To masala dosti who had a healthy baby boy!!! He's just gorgeous!!! I've had the pleasure of meeting masala dosti in person and I can't wait to meet the newest addition to their family! :-)

Until later...

Bye for now.

We're back!!

2006-07-30T13:25:00.000-05:00

I really meant to leave a post before we headed out to Murree but unfortunately it just didn't work out that way. Our phone was out for like 2 days and it honestly felt like eternity!! So needless to say, I couldn't get on the net and even if I could it was only for about 5 minutes and then the line would disconnect. So now it's back obviously. :-)

So Shakil and I decided that we were going to head out to Murree after he got off work on Sunday night which was actually early Monday morning. We take the Daewoo bus and it is very nice, well air conditioned, we're served cold drinks and a little snack pack that has a sandwich, biscuits and some nimko. Great way to travel here!! I had everything packed, ready and waiting at the door when Shakil arrived home from work at 3:45 a.m. He had a taxi driver follow him home to get us to the bus station which is only about a 5 minute drive from our house. I always get nervous at the thought of riding in a taxi here because they really aren't that clean and they drive nuts! I guess this taxi driver was feeling quite relaxed because the ride was quite nice and the taxi was even pretty darn clean. I guess anyone would be pretty relaxed when it's 4 a.m.

We got to the bus station and Shakil got our tickets for the 5 a.m. bus. I'm really surprised we made there on time but we did. The bus takes us to Rawalpindi and then we take another bus from Rawalpindi to Murree. As soon as we started to get into the mountainous region of Islamabad the clouds were moving in and it was just getting darker and darker the further north we went. Then, the rain starts and it rained the rest of our journey into Murree.

I learned from my last trip to Murree to be careful about what I eat prior to the Pindi to Murree leg of the journey because last time I puked as we were going up the mountain. The bus kind of rocks and the bumps the turning round and around the mountain just turned my stomach and this time I was more mentally prepared knowing what to expect. Good thing was since there was rain, the bus driver was taking it very slow and there was much less rocking and I kept everything down. No puking for me!! Yea me!!! Sara just loves the ride - doesn't effect her in the least.

We arrived into Murree at about noon. We didn't have hotel reservations and a lot of people don't get them prior to going there. You see, most people go check out the hotel rooms prior to booking because lemme tell ya, there are some pretty bad hotel rooms there. I mean, just down right disgusting and you wouldn't want to pay even 100 rupees to stay there. Just bad!! We get off the bus and you are immediately rushed by I guess you could call them "porters" but they are just men that want to carry your luggage, escort you around and most of these guys are getting a commission from the hotel if you stay at the one they get you to. We brought one big piece of luggage and I swear it was well over 30 kg and this guy just put it on top of his head and carried it. He wasn't young either and I really felt bad but this man just insisted. They need the money and I was going to make sure that Shakil compensated him well. Plus, it was drizzling rain on and off.

There is a big ol' hill you have to go up to get to Mall Road. Mall Road is where all the action is and that is where we like to stay. Oh my god, I thought I was going to pass out going up the hill and all the damn stairs. The elevation just gets to you. It's like I couldn't even catch my breath. Really lets ya know how out 'a shape you are!!! ha ha!! We must of looked at over 10 hotels and we finally found one - a really nice one. It is like the 2nd highest hotel in Murree and we were up on the 4th floor. The view was fabulous - that is when it was clear which wasn't so often. You'd have to look pretty quickly if you wanted to see the view because it would vanish in the clouds. We'd keep our window open with the screen and parts of clouds would literally come into our room. It was just so neat.

Shopping and eating is really all there is to do in Murree and we did plenty of it. We'd go out during the day in between rain showers and just shop around and it was so much fun. At night we'd dine out at restaurant and just relax. The food is pretty good. It's just typical Pakistani and Chinese cuisine around there - nothing special. Murree is famous for their chappli kababs and they are a must to try! So good!! Lots of cappuccino/chai vendors hanging around and I'd enjoy a nice cappuccino every evening. It was chilly everynight. Sara had to wear winter clothing but Shakil and I just loved the cold. In our room, we'd have to bundle up in blankets.

God knows we didn't want to leave that wonderfully cool weather to come back here to the heat. We got back last night and boy oh boy was it hot when I hopped off the bus. First thing I said was "back to sweating". Shakil agreed. Overall, we had such a great time and it was nice to do something as a family before I head back to the states.

When we arrived back home we saw some mail that had been slid under the door and one of which was from The Department of Homeland Security addressed to Shakil. Shakil opens it up and it was notice that his waiver - the final one he needed has been approved!!! In short, what this means is that there is nothing holding him back now from getting the visa. The Embassy had already contacted him right before we left calling him to visit them and bring his passport and a new medical report and 2 police clearances. This is the last of it folks. It has been 2 1/2 long years waiting on this and there is finally an end to it. There is a good chance that Shakil could be back in the states by the end of the year!!! We appreciate all your prayers.

Until later...

Bye for now.

We're vampires and where is MIL?

2006-07-19T03:27:00.000-05:00

Not really, but one might think that we are considering we're awake when the sun goes down and we sleep when the sun comes up. Very odd schedule indeed but you know it works out pretty well for us considering Shakil works nights. I've even got baby Sara on this schedule now. It might work out pretty well for me when I get back to the U.S. which btw, is only 5 weeks from now!! Yeaaaa!! Baby Sara and I will already be on track with the time there. If only it were that easy - I'm sure we'll have some serious jetlag.

We haven't been able to go swimming anymore because the pool at Shakil's grandfathers had been drained for some f'ed up reasons. I'll spare you the details but Shakil informed me Saturday night that it was back up and running and we'd go on Sunday. Well, we head over there all excited to go swimming but it didn't seem to be as clean as it was before. What I mean by "clean" is that it just didn't seem to have all the chemicals in it yet. So, needless to say baby Sara and I didn't swim. We just watched daddy swim. And in this Pakistan heat, I sure did want to jump in but I refrained.

Sunday night we of course headed to Pizza Hut and had a nice time. We didn't get home until well after 3 a.m.! Yikes!! Shakil was back at work on Monday and was off yesterday. So we decided that we needed to make a trip over to visit the in-laws. MIL had called us twice in the a.m. wondering if we were coming and mind you it was bright and early in the a.m. when she calls. She has no concept of time and doesn't seem to give a shit that here son works nights and sleeps during the day - must not give a shit that Sara and I sleep during the day either because the phone wakes Sara up every time. Anyway, we finally get up around noon or so and Shakil told me to go ahead and get ready and we'd head over to see my MIL. So, I get up get a shower and get ready.

We were just about to head out the door when the phone rang, it was MIL. So that made 3 times she called wondering when we were coming. Shakil told her we are walking out the door and we'll be there in about 15-20 minutes. We arrive at the in-laws and the watchman says that MIL is not there - she left. What the hell? Why would she leave when she knew we were going there to visit her? Her friend came and picked her up. So Shakil calls her on her mobile and she said she'd be right back. We waited and waited for her to come back. I told Shakil if she didn't show up after 2 hours then I would be ready to go. Yes, you guessed it - she didn't show up. Shakil called her again and she said she was at L Market. He told her we'd be leaving in 30 minutes and I guess she acknowledged it but still never showed up. So...we left!!

Pisses me off that we were going there to visit MIL and she just left. I mean come on, what is that all about? We came home and I heated up some Haleem that I made and shortly thereafter we headed over to go swimming. It was a nice time and it was so refreshing. Shakil has mentioned today that we should go back over the in-laws but sheesh can MIL make herself available??

We're getting ready to leave for Murree and will be doing so in just a few short days!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

The "cooking day"

2006-07-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

So Tuesday rolls around here and that was my chosen "cooking day". Remember, I was talking about how I was going to cook up 3 to 4 dishes and freeze 'em? Well, anyways I chose Tuesday because it is Shakil's day off and I could get it done because he could watch Sara. I was up the entire night Monday night and was awake when Shakil got home from work at 4 a.m. I knew I was going to start cooking early but I never thought I'd start at 4 a.m. You see, these days if you choose to cook here it's better to do it bright and early in the morning. Why you might ask? Well, because of the heat. It's hot in the morning too don't get me wrong but it's not nearly as hot as it is in the afternoon.

I started to prep everything first. I knew that I was going to cook the Chicken Biryani first. I cut up all the onions I'd need for 2 of the dishes, then the tomatoes, ginger and garlic, etc. It made it easier - well somewhat easier to have the prepping done first instead of prepping again and again for each dish. Make sense?

Shakil stayed downstairs in my in-laws bedroom and turned the a/c on so I could just go chill in there while the cooking was going on. It worked out pretty well because I'd just get up every 10 minutes or so - go stir it, etc. When I finished cooking the Biryani, I proceeded onto cooking the Chicken Masala which is basically chicken cooked with a masala packet - very simple and very self explanatory, eh? I also cooked the Haleem at the same time as the Chicken Masala.

I didn't get done with everything until well after 12 p.m. and I was exhausted!! I had decided to do the downstairs cleaning while the food was cooking and I was miserably hot. I will bitch a lot about being hot because I'm just not used to such extreme heat and I do mean EXTREME!

We've been eating on the Biryani and I froze the Chicken Masala and the Haleem. I separated the Chicken Masala into 2 plastic containers and I did the same with the Haleem. So I just have to thaw one of them when we're ready to start on a new dish. The only thing I don't really like about cooking this way is that I'm getting pretty tired eating on the Biryani for lunch, dinner, etc. everyday until it finishes. I did break it up today and we went to pick up some McDonald's. Pretty tasty! Never knew McDonald's could taste so good. Funny how when I was in the U.S. I rarely went there and now it's like the best thing since sliced bread!! ha ha.

Went over to the in-laws and I did laundry. You know what pisses me off? Pisses me off when we go over there and everyone just speaks Urdu. Now I do understand how Urdu comes naturally for them, but still. It's not fun to sit in a room with my MIL and hubby and all that is being spoken is Urdu. They'll laugh, chuckle, etc. and hey, I'd like to enjoy too ya know? I have told Shakil to speak English and he's very good about it. He'll speak to his mom in English but she ALWAYS responds in Urdu. She will never speak English to Shakil. I do understand some Urdu but I definitely can't carry on a conversation or anything. I just think it's rude that MIL does this. My FIL does it too. I guess I shouldn't be bitching considering Shakil speaks English so I can understand what is going on, etc.

Well, today MIL calls and says that the money we paid for the servant for the year has been returned. I really never expected them to return the money. So K is not returning and we're out a servant. Shakil still says he's trying to get someone else but now he's thinking that he might not get anyone considering I have only 6 wks until I go to the U.S. and a week of that we'll be out of town in Murree. Today, I put my foot down again and told him I was not going to do the cleaning in the rest of the house. I don't mind cleaning our bedroom/bathroom because it's a/c'd. I'm not used to this heat and when I was doing it on Tuesday I literally felt as if I was going to just drop.

Today Shakil is back at work and is off on Sunday. We're wanting to head to Murree on the 24th but his work is giving him shit about taking a week off. They've said that too many are wanting to take off. Well, he has been there over a year now and has not once taken a week off. We'll know in a couple of days if he's getting that week off. Shakil called me tonight and told me that he thinks they're going to give him the week off. We'll see. I'm so ready for some cooler weather. However, today it's been pretty nice weather here. It rained alllllll day and it was considerably cooler. Bad thing is the humidity after the rains. Ughhhh!!

Ahhhh, just found out that Shakil's work approved the week off!! Yea!! So we'll be heading to Murree for a week!!

Ok, that's all for now!

Until later...

Bye for now.

World Cup fever at Pizza Hut!!

2006-07-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

So Italy wins the World Cup in a score of Italy 1, France 1 (Italy wins shootout 5-3). Congrats to Italy!!!

Last night we did go to Pizza Hut. When we pulled up to the restaurant and started to look for parking (which is always hard to find) we did notice that it was pretty darn busy. There were cars everywhere. Now it was well after midnight mind you and still hopping with business. Seems like everyone in the city was at Pizza Hut. We walked into the restaurant and there was so much cheering, shouting, chanting going on. It was crazy! Turns out that there were so many people that had came to Pizza Hut to watch the final match.

We did have to wait a few minutes before we got seated. We always request to sit in a booth. It's just easier with baby Sara in her carrier. We got seated and Shakil was pretty happy he could catch a glimpse of the match from where we were sitting. I could see from another angle at another t.v. There was just so much excitement in the restaurant it was really pretty fun. I'd hear some cheering going on and I'd think there was a goal but they'd get all fired up when someone was just making a shot at the goal. It was great fun. We did stay until the match finished and boy oh boy the commotion when Italy won. I guess everyone here in this city was rooting for Italy. When Italy made that final penalty kick the restaurant was cheering and hollering like you wouldn't believe. Didn't disturb Sara in the least - she had a blast!

Shakil is back at work today (Sunday) and it's just been Sara and I here in the evening. Earlier in the day I decided to clean the upstairs. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs including ours and a lounge. I was disgustingly sweaty by the time I finished up. It looks so much better though. Shakil says he IS working on getting us a maid. Tomorrow I plan to get the downstairs done. Well, at least I say I am - we'll see.

Tomorrow Shakil is off and also on Wednesday and tomorrow is my cooking day. In my previous post I had mentioned how I was going to cook up 3 to 4 dishes and freeze them. I start off with Chicken Biryani then move onto Haleem or Chicken Curry and I'm done. Dal was cooked last night. I'll freeze the Haleem and Chicken Curry while we're consuming the Biryani which will take us about 3 days. It's a pretty big dish. Hopefully this idea turns out well. We'll shall see.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Update from yesterday's update...

2006-07-09T13:16:00.000-05:00

So I cleaned up that mess from the a/c men and then I cleaned our entire bedroom, dusted, cleaned our bathroom, etc. last night. I guess I felt bad later after what happened and just sucked it up. I emailed Shakil after midnight and just said "I cleaned the bedroom and our bathroom - FYI". He emails back with a "thank you honey and I'm planning to mop the whole house tomorrow". Now that was nice! I felt really bad after that because we just argued about such petty stuff ya know.

Baby Sara didn't go to sleep until well after 2:30 a.m. last night and I for some reason I decided to go ahead and get the laundry done. I bet I was the only person around hanging laundry out on the line at 2 a.m.! ha ha. I thought it might be a tad cooler at that time but it wasn't at all. I was sweating bullets by the time I was finished and just had to take a shower. I of course had to re-clean the bathroom again because that damn washing machine can make quite the mess. I've already been over how I have to do the laundry many 'a times and it's just pathetic.

I stayed up the entire night again and went to bed with Shakil shortly after he came home at 4 a.m. We slept until 10 a.m. when baby Sara woke up. I got up and fed her and let daddy get some extra sleep. He didn't stay asleep too long and he woke up to watch some t.v. Speaking of t.v., one of my FAVORITE channels just disappeared last night during Dr. Phil and I'm pissed!!! We dozed on and off with baby Sara and semi woke up at noon. I was laying on the bed just thinking about things and then I had a nice idea. I got up and headed to go downstairs. Shakil asks "where ya going"? and I just tell him to stay, watch baby Sara and I'll be right back.

I head downstairs and I start to cut up 2 big fresh mangos. I put them in my food processor and added some milk and grinded them up and made some mango shake for us. I was just going to make the mango shake but then I thought I'd go ahead and cook Shakil some breakfast. I tossed 2 shami kababs on the fry pan and cooked those up. When they finished I fried him 2 eggs and put some bread in the toaster. I poured him a big glass of mango shake and put all the food on a tray and took it upstairs to him.

I walked in the door and said "ya hungry"? Big ol' smile came over his face and he said he was hungry. He says "now that's what I call a good wife". Hey, 2 points for me today - no, I get 3 points! I'm greedy. He devoured all the food and shake and gave me a big ol' "thank you honey"!! I normally cook breakfast for him everyday but this is a first for me doing breakfast in bed. He enjoyed it thoroughly. Hey, what man wouldn't enjoy having his wife make him breakfast in bed huh?!?

We all pretty much slept the day away and really didn't get up until well after 4 p.m. I needed some things from the market and we headed out. It's been so nice here today because some rains came in and it's been so cool!!! So I had mentioned in the previous post that I wasn't going to do anymore cooking. Well, I decided that I needed to come up with something. I really can't just stop cooking completely. So I told Shakil on Tuesday I'd cook up 3 to 4 dishes and put them in containers to freeze. Then, I won't be cooking every other day. I'm going to cook Chicken Biryani, Chicken curry, Haleem and some Dal. I don't know how well the Biryani will freeze so we're going to start eating on that first. Anyone ever froze Biryani before? If so, lemme know how it turned out. Shakil had mentioned that it might get soggy. I cooked up the dal this evening so only 3 dishes to go on Tuesday.

Tonight we're going to Pizza Hut. Yes, again! ha ha. We go for the midnight special. You can get a large pizza and pitcher with free refills for Rs.460 and that is with tax. That is about $8.50. Pretty good deal. We also order a salad that we both share. It's a great meal. The whole meal costs just under Rs. 600.

Now for the update on the servant. I had read a comment from Sobia and she had mentioned giving the "dolly" a call and let her know that the contract has been broken and that we were going to contact the police. So, I mentioned it to Shakil and he called the "dolly's" son (only number we really have) and threatened him with it and said tomorrow we're filing a report with the police. We'll see how well it works out. The guy was like "don't worry, your money is not going anywhere". Well, K went on a 2 day holiday and Wednesday makes 3 weeks she has been gone for pity sake. Sheesh. It is just so frustrating.

We're watching "The Pink Panther" right now and I've gotten some pretty good laughs out of it. We've gotten a great collection of DVD's since I've been here. Anyone who has bought movies in Pakistan knows how cheap they are and how easy it is to get just released to theater movies. Good print too! Yes, yes we're bad bad!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updates from yesterday and more...

2006-07-08T13:08:00.000-05:00

So if you read yesterday's post then this one will make sense to you. If you didn't, go back and read yesterday's first - if you're interested of course!

First, the servant did not show up today. I had mentioned in yesterday's post that she was due back today but nope she didn't show up. I knew it would happen but I still had a small shred of hope that she'd return today.

I was up all night last night. Usually baby Sara is in bed asleep no later than 10:30 p.m. but last night she was up well after 1:30 a.m. It wasn't so bad considering I was up already. After she went down, I pretty much just stayed on the net browsing, etc. Shakil comes home from work about 4:15 a.m. and when he came home he was surprised to see that I was awake. Well, he shouldn't be too surprised considering it's pretty often that I'm up all night now. I've just gotten off schedule and a large part of it is due to Shakil's night schedule - he works nights 4 days a week.

In the evening yesterday I had emailed Shakil some names and phone #'s of a/c repair men. While at work he called and got one scheduled to come out this morning at 10 a.m. I was a bit surprised he scheduled it for a morning when he's been at work all night. He set his alarm when he got home so he'd be awake and ready for the a/c man. Now it's not so uncommon for these people to be late. Of course the man didn't show up until almost noon and mind you Shakil had been up since about 7:30 a.m. or so when we received a phone call. No alarm was even needed because the call woke him up. I guess I was pretty tired because I fell back asleep.

The a/c man got our a/c fixed!! It just needed a really good cleaning. Shakil was not at all satisfied with what they charged to do it and they still wanted more. No one is ever satisfied. Shakil had asked in advance what the service charge was going to be and he paid what he was quoted. Shakil thinks that they may have drained some coolant from the a/c just out of spite. I mean come on, how petty. It feels cool this evening so hopefully it's ok. At least those plastic bags have been tossed out and I don't have to look at them or that damn bucket under the window anymore.

Now here's where things get a bit worse. I do believe it started out of sheer frustration of the servant still not showing up. A few days back I put my foot down and told Shakil that I was NOT going to clean the house anymore. It is just too hot (minimum 115 degrees F everyday outside) inside and I can't do it anymore. He told me he was working on getting us someone else to come in and start the cleaning again. I also told him a few days back that I'm done with cooking as well. I can't and I repeat can't do it. I refuse to stand over a hot stove sweating profusely with my shirt and pants wet and keep wiping my face from letting the sweat drip into the food - yes, it's gross!! He had told me before summer started that when it started to get too hot that we'd just start getting take out or going out somewhere. I kept cooking though. Now it's come to a point where it's not feasible anymore. I'm just not used to it nor do I want to get used to it.

I was in my in-laws bedroom with a/c downstairs sleeping during all of the a/c repairing and Shakil came in to lay down when the a/c men left. I had no idea what time it was and asked him "aren't you going to get some sleep"? He tells me that he only has like 10 minutes - 10 minutes until he has to start getting ready for work. I was surprised and I did feel bad that he wasn't able to catch anymore sleep since he works all night long. Sara had just woke up and I told him I needed to head upstairs to make her a bottle and feed her, change diaper, etc.

We both go upstairs and the a/c men left a big ol' mess. This mess is right next to my side of the bed. First thing Shakil says to me when I take a look at is "you've got a mess you need to clean up". I dunno but it just didn't settle well with me and I was pissed. The first thing that slipped out of my mouth was "I'm not going to clean it". I said it pretty darn stern and then me saying that didn't settle with Shakil. Needless to say, it developed into a full blown argument. He got even more stern about the mess and proceeded to say "you clean that mess up by the time I get home or I'm not getting you anymore internet cards or calling cards". Now that's a pretty serious thing to say to me considering that is how I talk to my Mom in the U.S. Again, the argument is just getting more heated. I said some other things and then told him that there is nothing for me to have for dinner. He was asking why I didn't tell him earlier and I told him I was asleep. He had been pissed off that I slept most of the day. Well, I slept most of the day because I was up all night. Now, I know he was too but I did what he told me to do. I stayed in the in-laws bedroom and just took care of baby Sara. Now it's all coming back and being thrown in my face. This is what he and I do when we argue. We can have some pretty heated ones because we are both just so stubborn.

So I'm bitching that we don't have anything for dinner and the night before I had just a bowl of cereal and I really didn't want to have that again. It was after 4 p.m. in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten all day. During some of argument he tosses out that I can't do anything by myself. He suggested that I go searching for a maid. What am I supposed to do? Just stand on the corner and round someone up? He says "no, you can go next door and tell the people there to send their maid over when she's finished". You see, the maid that works next door is the sister to the maid we used to have when I came back in September. Well, I can't just go start knocking on someone's door that I don't even know. I'm just not comfortable with that. Surprisingly, he dropped that issue and we just moved on to more things to bitch about.

During the bickering and bickering he tells me that he doesn't have time to go take me anywhere or pick anything up - he'll be late for work. I take it upon myself to get dressed and scoop up baby Sara and tell him that I'll just walk to the store to get something myself. Now remember he said that I can't do anything by myself so I was more than determined to go to the store myself. Bad thing is that I'd have to walk there. It is only a 10 minute walk - if that to the store. So more arguing about that me going and him telling me that I can't go and I'm telling him that I'm going. I head downstairs and start to proceed out the front door. He stops me asking me to please not go. I was so determined and hell bent on going after the arguing and him saying that I can't do anything myself that I just wasn't hearing it. I was being more than stubborn at this point. Back and forth of him saying "don't go". To make this long overdrawn out story short, he finally says "fine go". So I did. I headed out with baby Sara on my hip and started walking.

I never thought I would ever go out walking outside of our house by myself. There was so much staring going on. It's as if people were looking at me thinking "what the hell is that white girl doing"? "why is she out by herself"? Truth is that you never see women out walking unless it is a servant, maid or something. So seeing me out walking was a new thing for these people. I made it to intersection and it is a busy one. So I decided to turn right instead of crossing and I'd cross down a little ways. I was going to go left and head down to McDonald's. Well, I didn't make it very far when Shakil pulled up and asked me to get in the car. I was on the opposite side of the road and he crossed over to come get me and escort me back to the car. I decided to go ahead and get in because I was pretty hot. He asked me where I wanted to go and I told him to take me to McDonald's. What I wanted to do was walk to McDonalds, sit there and eat, cool off and then walk back home.

Shakil wheeled us through the drive-thru and took Sara and I back home. I got home and gobbled up my combo meal and coke. I've napped on and off most of the evening with Sara. God only knows what time she'll go down to sleep tonight. Haven't heard from Shakil all evening. Tomorrow is a day off for him.

The cable company here has removed one of my FAVORITE channels. So ticked off about that!!!

So in a nutshell, it's been one hell of day here. Hey, tomorrow is a new day right?!?!

Until later...

Bye for now.

This is a long one!!

2006-07-07T09:13:00.000-05:00

Baby Sara just woke up from a nap so I don't know how far I'll get with this post. We'll see!

Shakil just went back to work after being off for 4 days in a row. It was great having him home!! We went out to Pizza Hut one night which is where we usually go once a week. You know you've been there 1 too many times when you can start recognizing the waiters and they are recognizing us. Well, I've told Shakil they have no problem recognizing me since I'm the only white girl in the restaurant everytime. Wait, I can't really say everytime because I have seen a few foreigners other than myself there before. Most of the time, it's just me though. Some people might ask if that bothers me at all. You know, being the only white girl. When I first came here to Pakistan, yes it did bother me. I felt like I was constantly being stared at which I'm still stared at don't get me wrong but I guess I've just become used to it. I really don't think I even notice it anymore. I do have dark brown hair and maybe that helps me blend in just a little opposed to me having blonde hair or something. I dunno, I'm just used to it all now. I guess I'd have to get used to it after having lived here for 1 1/2 years.

So in my last post I was discussing how I'm spoiled. Yes, I'm still spoiled and I need help here!! What I mean by help is servant help. We went over to the in-laws the other day because I needed to do some laundry. Laundry/ironing were just two of the things that our servant was doing for us. Now you might think how could laundry be so difficult and why can't you just do it yourself Tara? Let me answer that for you...I think I've mentioned before how we don't have an automatic washing machine here at our house. I would compare it to a portable washing machine. You just fill it up with water yourself, put your detergent, toss your clothes in (which can only be 3 or 4 shirts and maybe a trouser), turn the knob to 15 minutes and it jiggles them around - nothing compared to an automatic machine. Automatic machines will spin out your clothes - not ours. Automatic machines rinse the clothes - not ours. You have to manually drain out the water, rinse the clothes and wring them out yourself. Now keep in mind all of this is being done in 100 degree heat. It's horrible! So the point I'm trying to make here is that I went to the in-laws to do the laundry because they have an automatic washing machine and I don't have to go through all that other bullshit. It's still a pain in the ass though. I do the laundry and then I hang them out which at the in-laws there is no clothesline outside - just have to use a clothes rack inside. The clothes never finish drying AT ALL so we get fold them all up, toss them in a bag and truck them back home to hang outside on our clothesline. I probably need to stop bitching because at least I have the option to go over to the in-laws and get 'er done (some southern accent for ya!)

So the evening rolls around over at the in-laws and Shakil's khala (Mom's sister) shows up with her 2 kidos for visiting. We (Shakil and I) were in the process of leaving, getting all the laundry in the car and ready to go when they showed up. So of course we had to stick around a bit longer - which was ok by me. We were all sitting chatting, etc. more chatting by them than me considering there is lots of Urdu spoken and I can't converse in Urdu. I know many words now but I can't phrase anything to carry on a conversation. Good thing is that I understand a hell of a lot more now than I used to. One of the advantages for living here so long - you start to slowly pick up the language in your way.

Discussion came up about K (K is our servant). Shakil was discussing how she still hasn't shown up and Wednesday made 2 weeks she has been gone - mind you she was only supposed to be gone 2 to 3 days. 2 to 3 days has now turned into over 2 weeks now. Shakil has made many efforts to call her village and see what's going on but we can't get a hold of them nor can we get a return phone call. Well, Shakil's khala had the phone number for the "dolly" as they call this woman. "Dolly" is the negotiator for K. To make this short, they got a hold of the "dolly". See, the reason K left to begin with was that her parents wanted her to come visit her new baby brother that was born a few weeks prior. "Dolly" informed them that K's new baby brother died and that is why she hasn't returned yet. "Dolly" says that K will be back here at our house on Saturday. That's tomorrow! So hopefully this time she will return. There was mention by Shakil that there is supposed to be like 40 days of mourning observed but it doesn't apply to a newborn. I'm a bit confused about that. Why wouldn't it apply for a newborn too?? Doesn't matter how old someone is - you still have lost a loved one. Can anyone explain that to me?

Sobia had asked why we pre-paid for the servant? Well, that is what they of course were asking for and MIL told Shakil to go ahead and do it. According to MIL, that is customary of them to ask for year's pay. Shakil's khala (mom's sister) says to pay no more than 6 months in advance because they are due a vacation at 6 months and you don't lose the money if they don't return. I agree that is much better and makes better sense.

**Ok, baby Sara pooped her diaper - gotta take a break for a minute.

Ok, I'm back...let's see how far I can get now. I should be almost done considering I have a pretty long post which most might not even finish reading because I've just babbled way too much now! ha ha. However, that's not gonna stop me! I'm going to keep on goin'!! I feel so much better after a nice long post. It's a like a release for me. Ok, that sounds weird. Anyways, I just feel better!

Where was I at? It's like my mind just went blank. Now baby Sara is starting to fuss. I think it's time for another feed. I wanted to tell you guys about our a/c that has decided to start acting up and now Shakil thinks he's handled it. Now she's really fussing. I'll be back.

Ok, I'm back. I'm gonna try to finish now. Now I was mentioning about how our a/c has decided to start acting up. First it started out with some water dripping out of the vents - just a very small amount and most of the time it would stop. Now it has progressed into full blown water drops coming out and enough where we have to keep a bucket underneath it. Our split a/c is located above our bedroom window so therefore it is causing our curtains to get damp - not good and I can't keep the curtains opened 24/7. Shakil came up with this brilliant (I'm being sarcastic) idea to use some plastic shopping bags. He has 3 pretty good sized plastic bags placed on top of the curtain rod to channel the water that is dripping out of the a/c down to drain out the window. He has the bucket placed in front of the window to catch any water that doesn't get channeled down. It's hilarious but it's now getting on my nerves. It looks ridiculous!!! Today I snapped and started bitching that he needs to call someone and he just had 4 days off and didn't call anyone to get it serviced. Anyway, you'd just have to see it to believe it! I'd be so embarrassed to let anyone see this!! ha ha!!

Oh in other news, Shakil and I are planning to go back to Murree! This time we're going to go for a week but it depends on his job. He put in 2 weeks and a few days notice just yesterday but they are saying to not plan on it getting approved - that too many are taking leave. Well, we'll see. He has already requested off for the 17th and he already gets 3 days off and usually when he requests a day off, it's 4 days in a row. So we may just head out when he gets the 4 days off in a row. Soooo looking forward to it. It'll be a nice break from the heat here which is well over 110 degrees! Murree is mild during the day and usually pretty chilly in the evenings. Sounds great right now!

Until later...

Bye for now.

I'm spoiled!

2006-07-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

It's been kind of hectic around here lately. Not this past Wednesday but the one before our live in servant was going on a 2 to 3 day holiday. She was due to return on Saturday. I thought, ok 2 or 3 days without her will be nice because she can be a headache and it was going to be a nice break. So Saturday rolls around and she didn't show up. We thought that she was just going to take her full week vacation. So the next Wednesday rolls around and that made 1 week. Once again, she didn't show up. I was telling Shakil that I thought she wasn't going to come back. We just kept thinking that she'd show up though. So here it is, 1 1/2 weeks gone by and she hasn't shown up. Now keep in mind she was paid in advance for a whole year and she has only worked 5 full months and poof she's gone. Nice huh? I've become quite spoiled to having a servant - yes that's right, spoiled. It's one of the nice things about living in Pakistan. All your housework/laundry can be done for you at a very cheap rate.

So I decided one day to go ahead and do the laundry because it was piling up. It wasn't so bad actually doing the laundry it was hanging it out on the line. We've been having some rains come in and after the rains it is sooooooooo humid. So once I step out of our a/c'd bedroom sweat starts pouring down my face, back, etc. It's just gross. Needless to say, I did only 1 load. Then we just waited and took the rest of the laundry over to my inlaws and it did it in their automatic washing machine. Ours here at home is not automatic meaning it doesn't spin the clothes and get all the water out. You have to wring the clothes out by hand here at our house. Sounds like fun, huh? yeah right!!

I even proceeded to do the cleaning in this house which I managed to get done pretty darn quickly because you're dripping with sweat and sooo ready for a shower. Shower is on my mind the entire time I'm cleaning. My clothes are sticking to me and don't you just hate that feeling? Yuck. I cleaned upstairs and downstairs and I think I managed to get it done within about 45 minutes. Which you might be saying, that's not so bad. Well it is!! Especially when you've had someone doing for you for the past 9 months or more. It wouldn't be so bad if they had central a/c here. Cleaning in the U.S. is just completely different and I think a heck of a lot easier. Just my opinion of course. Good news is that Shakil says he'll have someone new for us here soon. I told him we could wait until this coming Wednesday and that would make 2 weeks since our servant left and we'll pretty well know she's not returning at all. So he agreed and then he'll get us a new one.

Today was a cooking day for me. I usually only cook about 1 or 2 times a week now if that because of the heat. Once again, you sweat profusely while cooking. No a/c in our kitchen. So I just try to get as much done in one day so I don't have to cook again for a few days. So today I cooked Chicken Manchurian and some chinese rice. Surprisingly, it turned out well but Shakil tells me the Manchurian has too much of something. He can't figure it out - just too much of something. I dunno. I liked it. I had it for lunch and dinner.

In other news, baby Sara is doing really well. She is now rolling over from tummy to back, back to tummy and just loving it. She is just so proud of herself. I'm so ready for her to start sitting up on her own. She loves to stand and she's pretty good at it with our support of course. I'm having a heck of a time with the cereal feeding. We started her on cereal at 4 months. She still had such a strong extrusion reflex that I just started putting it in a bottle and giving it to her that way. She does love it. So I decided that I'd start her back on the spoon at 5 months. Well tomorrow she is 5 months and I started her back this evening. I had a hell of a time with her. She is still forcing the cereal out with her tongue. It was just a big 'ol mess. Again, she was spitting more out than she's taking in. So I just put it all back into her bottle and gave it to her. Very frustrating. I want to start feeding her with the spoon. My Mom has said to keep trying and she will get used to the spoon. I'm going to try again when Shakil is here to help me out. Sara was even completely distracted with her bib - gotta have the bib on for goodess sake. ::sigh::

Shakil is off for the next 4 days! I'm so happy. He normally has 3 days off a week but he requested a day off. So 4 days in a row! :-) I'm really looking forward to it. I love when he's here at home with baby Sara and I. Would be nice if we were going somewhere since he has that many days off but no plans of that. Not too many places for us to go here.

Well, that's all for now!
Until later...

Bye for now.

Mangoes are here!!!

2006-06-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Mangoes are in full season here! Mangoes are one of the things I love about Pakistan. Well, not just mangoes - I love almost ALL of the fruit here. There is just something about it. My hubby has told me that there are many, many different types of mangoes. I never knew that. I just thought there was only 1 type of mango. All the fruit tastes better than what is available in the U.S. Mangoes in the U.S. are pretty good but I promise you if you tasted a mango from Pakistan you would never want a mango from the U.S. ever again. The first time I experienced a mango here, I was told that I wasn't eating it right. What? I don't eat it right? I can't explain exactly how they eat them here but let's just say your hands are dripping with mango juice and it's finger licking good.

There are many fruits that are available here that I had never even heard of before. If you are a watermelon fan, the watermelons are fantastic too!! So juicy and red!! Bananas are another one of my fav's here. They are quite a bit smaller than what is available in the U.S. but they are so tasty. I think Shakil and I can devour a dozen in a matter of 2 days.

The veggies here are pretty darn good too. I'm not a big veggie fan but when I came here I started consuming more because the taste is just so much better. When in season they have some really good carrots that are full red in color - they sort of have a sweet taste and when cooked they are just delicious. Right now we have the orange carrots that really aren't as good but still ok. I tell Shakil the veggies are organic and that is why they are tasting good and better for us.

Anyways, I LOVE MANGOES!!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Our little fish...

2006-06-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

Look at this little fish!! First time in the pool!
Last week we went to visit MIL and she informed us that her fathers swimming pool was ready. She had taken her friend and her friends' kids there just the evening before. Shakil looked at me and said, "let's go tomorrow"! I was all for it and of course very anxious to get baby Sara into the water for the 1st time too!

On our way home I wanted to stop at Liberty Burger which is a local burger stand that serves up some tasty spicy chicken burgers with fries and cole slaw all for the price of about Rs 60 which is about $1 - can't beat it, right? I usually don't eat over at MIL's because 1. she doesn't mind cooking "side of the road chicken" 2. she holds over food for days 3. she cooks any and all organs. Uhhhh...no thank you. Plus, all my MIL seems to cook is chicken curry and it basically consists of chicken, lots of oil and lots of water. I call it "chicken, oil, water".

Shakils' grandfathers house is about 1 minute from Liberty Burger and he asked if I wanted to just check out the pool. I was in a hurry because I wanted to get home in time to watch Oprah at 11 p.m. She was having the interview with Queen Rania of Jordan and I was interested in watching it. So we had some time and we stopped to check out the pool.

We walk to the back of the house and the first thing I notice is that it's green - very green! Yuck!!! Then we walk around the pool just looking inside and there was a little frog that had made the pool his home. Double yuck!! Now look back at my first paragraph - my MIL had taken her friend and friends' kids to the pool just the evening before. Ok, could they not see that the pool was disgustingly dirty?!?! Geez. Just the thought of letting my child swim in a dirty pool scares the begeebers out of me!!

Shakil talked to the watchman he said that the pool service people were coming the next day to clean and put the chemicals. The pool had just been filled and not serviced yet. We waited 2 days and then decided we'd get ourselves ready and go for a swim. I didn't bring my swimsuit here to Pakistan so I had to wear a pair of shorts/t-shirt which just feels yucky when you get wet. I MUCH prefer a swimsuit!! Anyways, Shakil had asked before why I didn't bring my swimsuit. Well, when I left the U.S. I was about 4 months pregnant and I didn't think I'd be doing any swimming - nor would I want to with my ever-growing stomach! :-) And.....you don't see many Pakistani women swimming here, in fact I haven't seen any at all swim. I think the funniest thing was when our servant saw me in the shorts and she said "knickers". You're wearing "knickers"!! I laughed and said, "yes, I'm going to swim in them". She later told me that she's never seen a woman in "knickers" as she called them. ha ha!

We headed over to the pool and walked around to the back of the house met the watchman and Shakil asked if the pool was clean and he said yes!! I of course needed to check it out for myself and yes, indeed it was - very clean!! I don't have a swimsuit for baby Sara yet so she had to swim naaaaaaaaaked! She's going to kill me when she gets older and sees the pics of her skinny dipping at the mere age of 4 1/2 months! ha ha!! So I stripped off baby Sara's clothes and handed her to her daddy. Shakil scooped her up and slowly lowered her into the pool. I expected a cry from her or something - some sign to let me know that she was scared - but NO! Baby Sara wasn't the least bit scared at all. Shakil lowered her to her shoulders and she just loved it. We of course didn't submerge her but we had such a good time walking around with her in the pool and letting her kick and splash. We're going to take her again this week on Shakil's days off. :-)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Where does YOUR chicken come from??

2006-06-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

Food has always been a big issue for me here in
Pakistan. It's probably one of the biggest issues for me. I'm just not used to the way it's handled here. I mainly eat chicken here and that is the same in the U.S. as well for me. However, chicken is handled a heck of a lot differently here in Pakistan. On my first trip here in 2004, I only stayed for 2 wks, got married and I really didn't pay attention to a whole lot of what was going on around me. I guess you can call it marital bliss. :-) The second time I came here was in 2005, I spent 5 months. So yes, I did learn a bit more while here and I noticed a hell of a lot more about what's going on!

I'll never forget when I told Shakil that I needed some chicken and some other items. I had planned a dinner to make and it called for chicken. He went to get the chicken and when he came back with the chicken it was warm. Now I don't know about you guys but I really don't want my chicken to be warm when I buy it unless it's already been cooked. That wasn't the case with this chicken. The chicken was still raw and as Shakil would say, "It's fresh honey". Yeah, it's fresh alright but I just couldn't eat it or even cook it for that matter. Call me crazy but I just couldn't do it. You see the cheaper chicken is available right on the side of the road, hence the name I call it "side of the road chicken" (you can see "side of the road chicken pic up above). It's not really on the side of the road (wait, yes I've seen it) but most is available within the bazaar. You just walk up to the guys selling the chicken and you pick out which one you want, it's weighed and they slaughter it right there in front of you, feathers out by their hands, cut up and ready to go for you. Uhhhhhhh....no thank you. Call me spoiled if you want but I'm just used to my chicken being nice and clean on a foam tray wrapped in cellophane and available at my local supermarket.

After that chicken experience I told Shakil that I never wanted the "side of the road chicken" anymore. He started getting what is called "K&N Chicken". K&N is known for having clean chicken that has been hygiencally handled. On the front of the package it says "Clean and Healthy Chicken" and on the back they have proper handling guidelines for chicken. It is clean chicken and in comparison to what you can get "on the side of the road" or in a local market it is very clean.

K&N'S Chicken
After that chicken experience I told Shakil that I never wanted the "side of the road chicken" anymore. He started getting what is called "K&N Chicken". K&N is known for having clean chicken that has been hygiencally handled. On the front of the package it says "Clean and Healthy Chicken" and on the back they have proper handling guidelines for chicken. It is clean chicken and in comparison to what you can get "on the side of the road" or in a local market it is very clean.

So here I am with my 3rd visit here and I've been here over 9 months now. I came here in September of last year and I was in in my 4th month of pregnancy. I was even more contientious about the chicken and other food items. I did go out to restaurants to eat and out of the 3 times I've been here I've only gotten sick with the food 1 time but it was a really bad time. I was in the hospital getting an IV drip for dehydration and a really strong dose of antibiotics. It was horrible and I've never experienced anything like it in my life. I think one time of getting sick is pretty damn good though considering how they handle meat here.

After my pregnancy I told Shakil that I would start eating the chicken that came from a supermarket here. NOT the "side of the road chicken" but a supermarket where it's all handled and cut up inside. That was me making a compromise because the K&N chicken IS a bit more pricey and its been working ok. I don't know what is up with the beef here. It has a completely different taste and I can't eat it here. Anytime I've made beef here at home it has some strange taste and Shakil does agree with me. They cut up the beef on tree stumps and they even cut up other meat like mutton on there as well. If I see them doing it I get all weird about it too. I know this is how they do things here and I'm not "knocking it". I'm just not used to it - that's all.

Yesterday I had told Shakil that I needed him to get some chicken and some other items. I asked for chicken breasts. I was going to cook them up and make some chicken sandwiches. He told me he'd go to the local supermarket and get a whole chicken and have them separate the breasts. So yeah, that's fine. I told him when he got home to just toss them in the fridge because I was going to cook them in a while. Well he immediately put the chicken the freezer and Tara's red flag went up. I opened up the freezer, pulled the chicken out and the chicken was HOT. Yes, raw HOT chicken. I went downstairs and told him that I couldn't eat that chicken. Here we go again...with the "it's fresh honey" that's why.

Chicken that comes from the supermarket is not HOT. I was telling Shakil that if I didn't know any better I'd think that he got "side of the road chicken" and just put it in the shopping bag from the supermarket because he got some other items as well from the supermarket. I see a smirk on Shakil's face and I immediately ask to see the receipt. He hands me receipt that is like a month old - nope that didn't work. I asked again for the receipt and he handed it to me. There was no chicken breasts or whole chicken on that receipt. I asked him again "did you get that chicken from the supermarket"? He says "yes" right to my face when he was LYING!!! I was soooooooo pissed. He had gotten the "side of the road chicken" and put it in the supermarket bag to cover up what he'd done. All because it was just a little cheaper!! Argh!!!! I was furious because he lied about it. Why couldn't he just be honest??? His answer, "because you wouldn't eat it". Well shit all I want is some honesty. Can you believe that? An argument over CHICKEN!!!!

Later that evening he got the K&N chicken and all is well here! ;-)

Ok, I've blabbed enough about chicken....

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updates and such...

2006-06-05T14:33:00.000-05:00

Sobia and masala dosti tell me its time for an update!! ;-)

Things are going pretty well here despite the heat! It is getting so hot here these days. Everyday it is 105 plus degrees F. However, Shakil thinks the monsoon is coming sooner. We've been having some strong storms blow in every week. It's nice because it cools the place off. You can almost feel the steam coming off the ground. I'm in a sauna - at least outside that is.

I'm having a heck of a time getting Sara on a schedule and that is what I've been working on. We started her on cereal after the pediatrician told us to. We are using Nestle Cerelac and it is just plain rice cereal. I've stopped it for now since Sara still has a pretty strong extrusion reflex and she is getting what she needs from her formula. I will try her again on it in a couple of weeks. I definitely don't want to force her on it.

So back to the schedule...I never knew it would be so hard for me to stick to a schedule but I've done pretty good over the past few days. Sara will not let me just put her in her bed and she'll go to sleep. That's just not happening - she screams. I generally have to wait until she is so sleepy and then rock her to sleep. Then I've heard its not good to rock her to sleep because when she wakes up in her crib she'll be scared. I'm wondering when I'll be able to just put her in her bed and she'll go to sleep.

The other day Sara was soo cranky and just wasn't having anything that I was doing for her. I just put her in her bed and she cried for a few minutes and was out like a light. I've read that some say it is ok to let them cry it out but she is still so young to me - 4 months old.

Things are going ok between the MIL and I for the time being. So there really aren't any updates in that regard.

Yesterday we took Sara to Micky D's. Yep, we take our 4 month old to McDonalds! :-) She just loves (or so we think) to look around. There is so much going on at the McDonalds. The one we go to is always plenty busy. I look forward to the day when Sara can have something there! After McDonalds we headed over to visit with my MIL. MIL informed Shakil that there was cheesecake there and that was an instant "let's go" from me! Cheesecake here is just not the same as it is in the U.S. It's ok but I just don't know what they do to it. I LOVE cheesecake - it's my ultimate weakness!!!

Well 2 nights in a row that Sara has gone to sleep at 11 p.m. Last night she slept until 4 a.m. and I suspect the same thing will happen tonight. I better go so I can catch a few hours sleep.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Trip to Murree

2006-05-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

Sara in her carrier
Daddy and Sara at Kashmir Point Sara and I at Kashmir Point
Daddy and Sara on the bus to Murree
Picture of bus station in Rawalpindi

Shakil had 3 days off in a row this week and out of the blue we decided to head to Murree. Murree is about a 6 1/2 hour drive north of where we live here in Pakistan. Shakil automatically opted for taking the bus. I've never riden on a bus before in my life and I've seen the buses here so I was a bit hesitant. He told me it was going to be a very nice bus - a luxury bus. Wednesday night my FIL dropped Shakil, baby Sara and I at the bus station. Our bus was do to leave at midnight.

Upon getting on the bus I pleasantly surprised. The bus was very nice and very clean. I had no complaints at all. There was t.v. on the bus, great a/c, refreshments and even a small dinner. Baby Sara did absolutely wonderful on the bus. She is quite the little trooper. She seemed to just have a good 'ol time!! Our bus arrived in Rawalpindi at about 4:30 a.m. and we had to catch another bus that would take us to Murree and that bus left at 8 a.m. So we just had to chill out in the bus station waiting area that was not air conditioned. Thank goodness it was bright/early in the a.m. and it wasn't too hot yet.

We get on the 8 a.m. bus to take us to Murree and everything is going just fine. Then about 45 minutes into the drive and after several rounds of winding through the mountains I start to feel sick to my stomach. The rocking of the bus was not making me feel good at all!! More rocking and more rocking and I can't take it anymore and that feeling of "I'm going to puke" came on and indeed I did. I puked!! Yuck. I did feel somewhat better afterwards but we still had quite a ways to go. Murree is located at about 8,000 feet. I made it the rest of the way without puking anymore thank goodness. We arrived into Murree at about 9:30 a.m.

Next became the challenge of finding a hotel room. Oh what a challenge that was!!! We went around (walking) looking at different hotel rooms. The hotel staff is literally chasing after you to get you to check out a room in their hotel. I think we looked at about 8 hotels and I finally decided on one - not the best room in the world but it was alright. The hotels in Murree are pretty old and they are almost allllllll the same.

To make a very long story short, we ended up having a very nice time. We would walk around the town looking at different things and just really enjoyed everything. At night the temp would drop and it would be chilly. Quite a change from the temp here!

We left Murree on Saturday morning and got back home in the late afternoon. We're looking into going to Dubai next - now that sounds like a lot of fun!

Until later...

Bye for now.

2006-05-08T14:26:00.000-05:00

Another day coming to an end - it's 12:32 a.m. I just put Sara down to sleep at midnight after a big feed. She should be down for the night. :-) My day started out about 10:30 a.m. Sara had gone to sleep the night before at about 2 a.m. and managed to sleep until 10:30 a.m. Shakil is usually the first one to pop up and get her out of her crib when she starts to make her noises to let us know she is ready to get up. I got her bottle ready and Shakil fed her and I dozed on and off while he fed her. After feeding we proceeded downstairs so I could cook us up some breakfast. I made us each 2 eggs with toast and we usually have some salad along with it - I know weird combination for breakfast but we like it.

The days are getting VERY HOT here and it is slowly becoming impossible to sit without a/c. Even a fan is just not cutting it anymore. My MIL came into the dining room (we're still on non-speaking terms) and she proceeded to sit down, talk to Shakil and not even acknowledge that I was sitting there too. She speaks to Sara and all and there I just sit. Now I do admit that I'm not even acknowledging her either. We're both being very stubborn. I quickly finished my breakfast, scooped up Sara and went back upstairs to our bedroom.

I was only back upstairs for about 10 minutes when Shakil's khala (mom's sister) arrived. The servant came upstairs and told me that they were wanting me to bring Sara downstairs and I did. 2 minutes downstairs and the electricity goes out. That is a regular occurance now and it's referred to as load shedding. The electricity was out maybe 5 minutes and my back was already wet from sweat. Gotta love it but you don't gotta like it!

Shakil left for work early since he had to pick up some clothing for me at the tailor and I took a nap along with Sara. It was nice - a good 3 hours! When I woke up I proceeeded to go downstairs and cook up some Chicken Karahi. It turned out very well but man was I hot cooking it. Sweat was pouring down my back and my shirt was just soaked. We have a gas stove so you can't run the fan without blowing out the flame. I think I was also a bit stressed because Sara was a bit cranky too - crying and crying. She was in one of those "I wanna be held moods" as I call it. She just wasn't happy in her bouncer. I did manage to get it finished but it sure wasn't easy.

After cooking the chicken I went upstairs to give Sara a bottle which she just sucked down. Not long after she finished the bottle, the electricity went out again! There was a BIG dust storm that had started and it was BAD. I've never seen anything like it before. I had to quickly run around and get all the windows closed so the dust didn't blow in. It still managed to get inside though. The electricity was on and off, on and off most of the evening. It even went out while I was finally able to sit down and have dinner at 10 p.m. Needless to say Sara didn't get her bath until 11 p.m. - a bit late.

It's now after 1 a.m. and Sara woke up again so I had her finish up her bottle and I rocked her back to sleep. I laid her back down but I can tell she's not asleep yet. Better get her to sleep!

Until later...

Bye for now.

The day comes to an end...

2006-05-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

It's 10 minutes shy of 2 a.m. and my day is coming to an end. I just put Sara down to sleep. For the past week or so - maybe the past 2 weeks Sara has been going down to sleep for the night at about 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m. I really can't complain because she has started sleeping the entire night without even hearing a peep out of her. She just turned 3 months old on the 2nd and she is sleeping about 8 to 9 hours every night. I'm finally able to get some sleep at night - it's wonderful!!

Sara went to the doctor yesterday for her 3 month appt and she is up to 11 pounds now! I was fearful she wasn't gaining like she should but we were pleased to see that she is doing just fine!

The heat is really in full effect here. The days are absolutely miserable outside. Inside our bedroom its nice and cool. I'm pretty much running the a/c 24 hours a day. Shakil and I did go out to the park the other night and enjoyed a nice long walk. It was hot but since the sun was going down it was a bit more tolerable. I hope to go tomorrow night since Shakil is off work.

War with my mother-in-law has happened once again. She showed up at this house with my father-in-law. They come here at night for the a/c in their bedroom here. The other house doesn't have any a/c's. My mother-in-law comes but doesn't even want to use a/c. She sleeps in a room with no a/c at all. I'm convinced she comes here to give me a hard time. She knows conflict is going to occur but she just does it anyway. I was good though, I held my tongue and didn't start bitching at Shakil when she came. Things have just been so much better with her at the other house and us at this house. Shakil, the baby and I would go visiting over there on Shakil's days off. It worked out nicely. So she came and as I was saying I held my tongue. The next morning she decided to turn the house upside down and she does this everytime she comes here. She implies that the house is soooooo dirty and blah blah blah and it just pisses me off. She rolled out some dirty carpet on the upstairs lounge floor and that just set me off. I pretty much just told her I didn't want it there and I didn't care what she has to say about it. We've had this conversation before but she just keeps wanting it back there. It's filthy with stains and it just holds so much dust. Needless to say, I got it rolled up and out of the way.

Now my father-in-law and mother-in-law are here again tonight and she is refusing to even talk to me. Not even acknowledging me. I'm not surprised in the least. I haven't made an effort to talk to her either and I don't plan to right now. She wants to play this little game then so be it.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updates and such...

2006-04-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

Once again it seems like it has been a while since I've posted. When I think I'll sit down and type up something, Sara gets aggravated or its time for another feeding session - then after that I just seem to forget about it. I am going to try and get back into the swing of things with my blogging. I know I've said this before. I hope I haven't lost any readers - if so I understand why. Anyways, it is pretty much the same ol' same ol' around here. It is getting so hot here and it is only going to get even hotter. I was looking at the 10 day forecast for next week and it is supposed to be around 107F - 109F. That is damn hot!!!!

We only have 3 a/c's in this house - 1 of which is in my FIL/MIL's bedroom. Our kitchen is pretty small - nothing to get excited about and there is absolutely no circulation going on in there. I told Shakil once the heat kicks in - I'm done with the cooking. I can't stand there cooking with sweat running down my back and pouring off my face. I'm so hot natured - always have been and I am seeing that Sara is too - just like Mommy in that aspect.

Our bedroom stays pretty cool with the a/c and very cool at night which is when I want to feel the coolest. Today I was giving Sara a bath and I was just sweating and sweating. Of course there is no a/c in our restroom and it was just so hot and felt very humid. Then when I get her out I can't just turn on the fan since she is all wet and drying off.

This evening I was cutting up some fresh veggies to make a salad which btw turned out very nice and I made the mistake of cooking dal at the same time. So the heat from the dal and the heat in the kitchen just made me so hot. My entire back was wet by the time I finished and Shakil was ready to go out for a drive. I had to reshower again because I just felt disgusting. That is how it is here. When it gets unbearably hot you have to shower at least 2 times a day - it's a must! We did go out for that drive and picked up a dvd to watch and also picked up some chicken kababs to take home. They were very tasty! :-)

My FIL/BIL have migrated back over to this house because there is no a/c over at the other house. Yes, you read that right no a/c. MIL came over last night (FIL forced her to) and boy oh boy did it spark up some tension between she and I. I just don't like it when my MIL comes over here because she starts bitching from the moment she walks in the door. She always and I repeat ALWAYS has to say that the house is filthy. You know the reason she says this crap because SHE didn't clean it. She thinks that if she didn't clean it - it's filthy. We have a 24 hour servant that does all of our cleaning and I see her do it everyday. I even go back and check what was done and if it's not done appropriately - she has to do it again. We even have her cleaning twice a day now because of so much dust that manages to get inside.

To make a VERY long story short - my MIL went back to the other house. She can be so disrespectful sometimes. It's as if she really doesn't think before she says something. Sheesh. I know everyone can be like this at one time or another - you just say something without realizing what you really said but with my MIL....it's very regular.

In other news - very good news, my favorite topic - Sara is growing like a little weed. It is so neat to watch her, listen to all of her googly sounds. When we lay her down on her back she really gets going with making all sorts of noises. She just laughs outloud and it's precious. The smile she gives us just makes our day. I've posted some new pics of her.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Finally heard something...

2006-04-11T15:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, we have heard at least something about Shakil's immigration case. Shakil filed the I-601 waiver along with my hardship letter they request of why I need Shakil in the U.S. with me in July of last year and we hadn't heard shit since he filed it. Today my Mom informed me she got a letter in the mail from the Department of Homeland Security. They are the ones that review the waiver and approve or disapprove. This waiver will waive Shakil's visa overstay. We were informed that his waiver has been sent to DHS in Rome, Italy for adjudication. For any of you who are reading this thinking "what the hell is she talking about?" We filed to get Shakil back to the U.S. 2 years ago - so hearing something can make us feel somewhat hopeful. It's been a long, long process. They also are requesting a copy of Sara's birth certificate showing Shakil and I as her parents. We have 30 days from April 4th to get the requested information to them. So say a little prayer that this whole ordeal is coming to an end SOOOOOOOOOOON! Shakil, Sara and I would LOVE to return back to the U.S. and began a normal life together.

Until later...

Bye for now.

What day is it?

2006-04-05T23:01:00.000-05:00

You know I hardly even know when my day starts or when end it ends hence why I haven't blogged. I'm down right exhausted! I really thought things would start to get easier but they seem to be getting harder!!! Baby Sara just turned 2 months old on the 2nd and she has managed to pick up an entirely different sleeping schedule.

It's about 9 a.m. here on what day I think is Thursday and I've been up the ENTIRE night. Ok, not just me but Shakil as well. I don't know how Sara's pattern has gotten so screwed up. Sara will go to bed about 8 a.m. and wakes up for her feeds and then I change her diaper, etc. and she is right back to sleep again. This goes on until about 7 p.m. in the evening. She usually starts to get cranky in the evenings but we've increased her feeds in the evening and that seems to have solved that but she is still up allllllllll night and I'm not exaggerating!! So how do you break the vicious cycle because it's wearing me out. I've been told to sleep when she sleeps but that is hard to do during the day when I have other things to do. Is it possible to break the cycle? Do I just not worry about it? What to do!?!?!

In other news, last night Shakil took me out for my birthday dinner. (B-day is on the 9th but Shakil was off last night so we went). I guess I should share that I will be turning the big 3-0. YIKES!! We went to a local restaurant here called "The Village" - it's a Pakistani buffet. I've been there before but last night was exceptionally tasty. I of course over indulged in the sweets they have there and I managed to scarf down 6 - maybe 7 - galub jamins. I'm a sucker for 'em! They are so good! I'm determined to try Lindsey's recipe for them.

Oh and we took Sara in for her 2 month check up and she weighs in now at 4.5 kg (with clothes on) which is about 9 1/2 pounds. Cutie is getting so big now! Hard to believe she was just a little over 6 pounds when she was born and has really blossomed now. It's just wonderful! Now if I could get her to sleep when she's supposed to......

Shakil is starting a new schedule at work and I'm just ticked off about it. He'll be going into work at 9 p.m. and not coming home until 6 a.m. So I'll be home allllll night alone with Sara. Shakil has been helping me at night and it has helped me immensely. I won't have that now! So Shakil and Sara will soon be on the same sleeping schedule with day sleeping.

Ok, I'm so sleepy now I've got to try and catch some sleep while Sara is asleep.

Hope that everyone who reads is doing well!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Finally an update!!

2006-03-28T13:10:00.000-06:00

First, here are some newer pics of baby Sara. :-)

Since Sara was born, when she is sleeping like this we say "well, she's surrendered" - when she is sleeping like this - she is "out like a light"...

Peek-a-boo from her bath towel...

Bathtime - I couldn't resist snapping these...

Sara napping with daddy...

Ok, where do I start? It feels like forever since I've blogged. I'll just start somewhere and if it doesn't make sense then I'm sorry - I'm exhausted! My Mom left last Wednesday very early in the A.M. She had a 5:50 a.m. flight out of Pakistan that took her directly to Houston with a brief stop in Manchester. My Mom was very nervous about flying back and it was just written all over her face. There had been an issue with her open return ticket from Houston to Dallas. PIA flys into Houston and then she takes a domestic flight from Houston into Dallas. She had gotten the domestic ticket when she purchased the international ticket from the travel agent. The class of the ticket prevented her from easily getting a seat. They kept saying to Shakil when he was checking for her that there were not any seats. To make a VERY long story short, Shakil got it handled finally but it sure was a headache and lots of stress before it was finally done. My Mom would panic everyday about it and was still in panic when she left. She was just so fearful that she wouldn't make it back to Dallas.

We dropped my Mom off at the airport. She kissed Sara goodbye and I was already tearing up. We walked her to where she was supposed to go. Shakil arranged for a porter to help her out and told him that she didn't speak any Urdu and luckily this man understood English but just couldn't speak it. For any of you who have not ever traveled Internationally by yourself - it is not easy the first time - especially going to a third world country and leaving from it. It can be quite scary. I know it was for me the first time. You just don't know what to expect.

It was time for my Mom to go. She hugged and kissed me goodbye. I immediately broke into tears. It was just so hard saying goodbye to her. I had the biggest of feeling of emptiness when we arrived back home. It was very upsetting. I sucked it up though and kept on going.

The next day was my first day with Sara - all alone (ok not completely - we do have a servant and Shakil is with me at night from 1 a.m. until 3 p.m. the next day) but when he left for work I was just overwhelmed. I really couldn't even find time to sit down and eat. I had even forgotten to eat. Things are getting easier but just when I think Sara has developed a routine - it's all screwed up again. Hopefully she will have a better routine soon. She will soon be 2 months!

Ok now my FIL, BIL and MIL did arrive back to this house but it was only for a brief time. My FIL/BIL ended up going right back to Karachi and my MIL came back to the house Shakil and I live in. Her first night back was ok but the next morning she basically picked up the house and put everything upside down. I mean she was just cleaning, cleaning and cleaning. She has the mindset that nothing is clean if she hasn't cleaned it. She just kept saying that everything is dirty - blah blah blah and it really pissed me off. I watch the servant clean and I do instruct her what to do. My MIL is just very stubborn.

The next day my MIL went back to the other house and things settled down. We were back on our own again - that is what we are used to. Now get this, last weekend Shakil, me, baby Sara and the servant went over to his parents other house and stayed with MIL for the weekend. Surprisingly I had a very nice time. It was very comfortable. I even enjoyed my MIL's company and had some nice chats with her. Yes, it is jaw dropping. Usually everything my MIL says annoys me but now things seem to have changed. Hmmm, I wonder why. Anyways, things are good and that is really all that matters. We also went to a bazaar that is called "Sunday Bazaar". It is quite the dirty place but I did have a nice time. Shakil got me some new fabric to have stitched because I really only have maternity clothes here. I'll need to get those stitched asap.

I'm a bit frustrated at the moment because Shakil's schedule at work is changing. He'll be gone the entire night 5 days a week. So he'll sleep all day and then be gone all night - not happy about that at all!! He is hoping that the following week they will try to accomodate him and change the schedule. I don't foresee it happening. We'll see.

In other news, Sara got her U.S. Passport and certificate of birth abroad! She is officially a U.S. citizen. She has dual citizenship actually. They'll be mailing her social security card to my home in the U.S.

Ok, lemme post some new pics of Sara. :-) She was taking a bath today and I snapped a few of her. She just looked so darn cute!

All by myself...

2006-03-13T11:53:00.000-06:00

Ok, not really but soon my Mom leaves here (she's been a huge help in the evening when Shakil is at work). She leaves on the 22nd back to Texas. She is sooo ready to go. This may sound bad but I'm actually ready for her to go. So many things here worry her, scare her, etc. (which I totally understand) Plus, since she has arrived here she has basically refused to eat anything substantial. You know I was like that when I first came here so I can understand that too but the body has to have fuel to keep on going. My Mom can barely sit down without dropping off to sleep. She has no energy at all. She thinks everything I make is spicy and I have toned it down a lot. I've even cooked traditional American dishes (whatever that is) and she still doesn't eat much. I know its hard here - believe me. I've now done 10 months of living total in this country. My Mom will feel much better once she gets back to the states. I just wish I could go with her but I can't right now. I plan to go back in June. Where I am in Pakistan, it gets ridiculously hot and I mean H-O-T.

Weekend was nice. My Mom took Shakil and I out for dinner Saturday night. We went to a local restaurant here that has a Pakistani buffet. They have so many dishes that are quite tasty. They also have a big dessert section in which of course I overindulged. I get weak when I see galub jamin - they are my favorite! I have read them being described as Indian donuts soaked in rose syrup. My goodness, they are good. Shakil overindulged a bit too much in everything and ended up feeling ill when he got home. He was fine the next day but managed to go over 24 hours without eating again.

My FIL, MIL and BIL are returning from Karachi tomorrow. Things should start getting interesting again because my MIL more than gets on my last nerve!!

Baby Sara is doing wonderful and starting to make all sorts of new noises. Too cute!! She'll be 6 weeks old on Thursday. :-)

I still can't view ANY blogger blogs due to the block on the domain here. Feel free to email me your blog posts if you feel pity on me. I have no blogs to read!!! :-( I can't even see my own blog. My friend Colleen has been emailing me hers! Thank you!!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Here I am!

2006-03-09T14:27:00.000-06:00

Yes, here I am - not that anyone really cares...but here I am! :-) I've been so aggravated because I can't view any blogger blogs nor can I upload any pics to my blog but it looks like now I might be able to. I'll have to give it a try. According to what Shakil found out from the ISP we've been using is that there has been a block put on the blogger domain. The reason for it is the Islamic cartoon related issue. He checked with another ISP and it's the same issue. There are many blogs that I read daily and now I can't read a single one and it just sucks!!! :-(

I have to admit I've just been exhausted. This little girl of ours takes it all out of me. She has just started this thing where about 4 p.m. she turns into "cranky baby" and this lasts until well after midnight. Tonight its still going on and its 1:45 a.m. She takes little cat naps from 4 p.m. on - cat naps that last about 10 minutes - no less. Then, she wakes up "cranky baby" and cries and cries. I pick her up and cuddle with her, jiggling her some to get her to doze back off. Usually she will and I put her back in her bed and the whole process starts all over again. The good thing is that usually she will take her last feed about 2 a.m. and then sleep uninterrupted till about 8 a.m. I guess she makes up for the 4 p.m. to midnight stretch of 10 minute cat naps. ::sigh:: It's tough!

In other news, my Mom tells me that she is ready to go back to the states. I can't blame her - I'd LOVE to go too!! I had been plagued with the decision of staying here or going back with my Mom. Shakil and I could never come to an agreement about me leaving. It looks like I'm here until June (CANNOT TOLERATE THE HEAT HERE) and then I'm going to head back to the U.S. The only worry I have is going back to the U.S. and flying alone with Sara. I know its going to be difficult. I guess I have a few months to get over that issue.

I keep hoping and hoping that we'll get a decision on Shakil's waiver and then he'll get his visa. I'd so love that we could go back as a family but for some reason I just don't foresee it happening.

Ok here goes trying to upload a pic...

Yeaaaaa!! Looks like it let me!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Baby Sara is 1 month!!

2006-03-03T12:32:00.000-06:00

Time really does fly doesn't it?!? I really can't believe that Sara is already a month old. It seems just like yesterday that I had her and I was holding her in my arms for the first time. It is definitely not easy with a newborn. So many sleepless nights, sleepless days - you name it. It is all worth it though. She is just the most precious gift anyone could have.

We took Sara in for boosters today and that was so hard seeing her cry like that. It was sort of a delayed cry with her though - she didn't cry with the needle initially going on - it was when the injection went in. The pediatrician said she might run a low grade fever and tonight I think she is. We've got some Panadol drops to give her to make her feel better and lower the fever.

Thank you all for all the nice comments you have said about Sara. I read these comments and they all just bring a smile to my face. We appreciate it so much! :-) I would upload a pic of baby Sara but unfortunately something is going on with this ISP and I can't - will upload one ASAP!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Deadly bombing in Karachi

2006-03-02T12:31:00.000-06:00

U.S. Diplomat Killed in Pakistan Bombing By ZARAR KHAN, Associated
Press Writer

KARACHI, Pakistan - A suicide attacker rammed a car packed with explosives into a vehicle carrying an American diplomat in Pakistan's largest city, killing four people - including the diplomat - ahead of President Bush's visit to Pakistan.

Bush condemned the attack near the U.S. Consulate and a luxury hotel in Karachi, and said "terrorists and killers" would not prevent him from going to Pakistan on the final leg of his tour of South Asia.

"We have lost at least one U.S. citizen in the bombing, a foreign service officer, and I send our country's deepest condolences to that person's loved ones and family," Bush said at a news conference in neighboring India, without naming the diplomat.

The blast ripped through the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel, about 20 yards from the consulate gate, shattering windows at the consulate and on all 10 floors of the hotel. Ten cars were destroyed, and charred wreckage was flung as far as 200 yards.

Initial investigations showed a suicide attacker deliberately rammed his car into a vehicle carrying the U.S. diplomat, blowing it into the air, across a concrete barrier and into the grounds of the hotel, a Pakistani counterterrorism official and senior investigator said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The driver of the diplomat's car, a Pakistani working for the consulate, also died. The other fatalities were a paramilitary guard and an unidentified woman.

The attacker was also presumed killed in the attack, the two security officials said. His body was not recovered.

The counterterrorism official said the attacker used high-intensity explosives and it was the most powerful blast he'd seen in Karachi - a hotbed of Islamic militancy.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement said the bombing was a "horrific terrorist attack" and it expressed "deep sadness" over the deaths of the American diplomat and his local driver.

"This senseless act today further fortifies our resolve to fight terrorism," the statement said. "We all must work together to eliminate this terrible menace."

Police initially said two car bombs had gone off, but provincial police chief Jahangir Mirza said that a single bomb may have triggered a second smaller explosion in a burning car.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But previous attacks against Westerners in Karachi have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant groups. Several suspects have been convicted while some are still at large.

Some 52 people were injured, including a young Moroccan girl who was hit by debris, said provincial government spokesman Salahuddin Haider. He added that investigators were trying to get video footage from surveillance cameras at the consulate.

Nida Emmons, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, confirmed an American and Pakistani employee of the consulate were killed, but wouldn't give their names. He said they were still investigating if any other consulate staff were hurt.

The bombing left a crater 8 feet wide and more than 2 feet deep. It propelled cars into the air and damaged nearby buildings, including a naval hospital. The street was strewn with mangled car parts.

Mohammed Ali, who sells cigarettes nearby, said the first explosion occurred around 9 a.m., knocking him down and flattening his wooden stall.

"Seconds later there was another explosion. We ran away to save our lives," said Ali. "The explosions set cars on fire and there was smoke all around ... I thought the explosions would burst my ear drums."

Mohammed Jameel, a former army colonel who was getting a medical checkup at the naval hospital, said the first explosion was "very intense" and the second one was smaller. "I saw two burning car seats land in the hospital lawn," he said.

Officials said the bombing could be timed for Bush's visit to Pakistan.

Bush will travel to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, which lies about 1,000 miles north of Karachi, later this week. He made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday before arriving in India.

"All international media are eyeing Pakistan at this time, and terrorists are using this to defame Pakistan and Muslims," said Ishratul Ibab, the provincial governor.

Islamic militants have targeted the U.S. Consulate in Karachi before.

In June 2002, a car bombing left 14 Pakistanis dead outside the building, which lies in an upscale district of the sprawling city's downtown.

In March 2004, police defused a huge bomb less than five minutes before it was timed to explode outside the consulate. The bomb was packed in a small van that was parked on a street near the building.

Marriott Hotel deputy manager Shahzad Ashif said windows were broken on all 10 floors in Thursday's attack and balcony door latches were blown in on the first two floors but no guests were injured. The hotel was being evacuated and guests moved to other hotels, he said.

Daddy's little girl

2006-02-28T11:17:00.000-06:00

I had a request for a pic of baby Sara with daddy so here are two! :-)

3 weeks old today!

2006-02-23T13:00:00.000-06:00

New pics of baby Sara! :-)

Trip to the U.S. Consulate

2006-02-21T13:43:00.000-06:00

Today baby Sara had her appt at the U.S. Consulate for her U.S. passport, social security card and certificate of birth abroad. My Mom, Shakil, baby Sara and I all went. The security is really beefed up around the consulate which I can understand. We first went into one building where we had to send our stuff through the scanner and go through a metal detector. They entered some stuff off of Shakil's passport into the computer and told us to go the other building - that is the main building. They would not allow my Mom to go with us and we had to leave her in this tiny little waiting area. They also wouldn't allow us to take Sara in her infant carrier which really pissed me off. She was peacefully sleeping and so content. I had to unbuckle her out of it and get her out.

We proceeded to walk over to the other building. It was absolutely freezing inside. Thank goodness I had a blanket with Sara. We had to go to another waiting area and just sit. Baby Sara was doing great for about 15 minutes then she started to get cranky. She'd calm down and then start it up again. I fed her before leaving so I was hoping she'd stay content - so not the case. We were called to submit the forms, etc. and then had to wait some more. During this time Sara became even more fussy. Shakil went back to the other building where my diaper bag was with my Mom and got Sara a bottle. She cried the ENTIRE time Shakil was gone to get the bottle. People were turning around kind of glaring at me - well geez, what do you expect me to do dammit? Daddy is getting her bottle is what I was thinking. The lady behind me said, "she's hungry!" Well DUH!!!!!!!! Like I don't know what my baby needs. I spend 24 hours/7 days a week with her.

Shakil returned back with the bottle and I started to feed Sara. She was taking the bottle per normal and I burped her midway through it. I gave her some more and she was taking it as if she wanted more - then up it came. She started to puke and managed to spew some over on daddy's shirt - not too much though. After her little puke she settled down and slept the rest of the time. Shortly thereafter they called us to the window. I signed the forms in the officers presence and she said her passport would be there in 2 weeks time - much quicker than we though. Baby Sara will have dual citizenship.

Everything else is going fine. My MIL, FIL and BIL are still in Karachi so its been nice and quiet here in the house.

Will baby Sara and I be returning back to the states? That is the question right now and what Shakil and I are dealing with.

Until later...

Bye for now.

One of my fav's right now...

2006-02-19T13:32:00.000-06:00

I told myself that I wouldn't post a pic of myself but this pic is one of my fav's right now. My Mom snapped it of us the night of Shakil/I's anniversary and I just wanted to share. :-)

Baby Sara and I are doing just wonderful - I'm lacking lots of sleep at night but it is so worth it!

Until later...

Bye for now.

2 years today for Shakil and I!!

2006-02-15T12:32:00.000-06:00

**Happy Anniversary my love!!!**

It's Shakil and I's 2 year Anniversary today!! Boy, what a journey it has been thus far. Shakil and I were married in Pakistan - Karachi to be exact. We met in the U.S. in April of 2003, dated and were engaged by the end of the year. I'll spare you the LONG story (here it is if you are interested - it was my first blogger post) but I flew to Karachi in February of 2004 and we were married just a few days after I arrived. It was short/sweet. I only had 2 weeks to spend with him before needing to return back to the U.S. due to my job obligations, etc.

Shakil and I spent 10 months apart before I just couldn't take it anymore and returned back to Pakistan in January of 2005 - I stayed for 5 months and went back home in June of 2005. I went back to the U.S. to visit and 1 week after arriving in the U.S. I found out that I was pregnant. I just couldn't emotionally handle being away from Shakil so he and I made the decision for me to return back once again. I went back in September and I've been here ever since.

I think Shakil and I have been through so many obstacles and over so many hurdles. We still have more hurdles to get over with waiting on his visa. We get through it all hand in hand and will continue to do so. Our love is so strong and it will get us through this. We now have our precious daughter and we'll do it together as a family.

Once again, Happy Anniversary my love and I'm so happy we are able to be together right now. I wouldn't have it any other way. :-)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani cities

2006-02-14T12:25:00.000-06:00

**Shakil and I had no idea any of this was even going on until after Shakil tried to head to work and was forced to return back home. He was due to go to work at 3:30 p.m. and discovered all of this on his way. His work is in the district where all the protesting occurred. His work did call him back in about 7 p.m. I wasn't happy that they were calling him back in. He wasn't going to go just for safety reasons but couldn't even get a hold of anyone to let them know he wouldn't be going in. So, he went ahead back to work. I've heard from him twice so I know everything is ok. I'll be glad when he's back home.

Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani Cities By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer

Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan's worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured.

Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company, Telenor.

U.S. and British embassy staffers were confined to their compounds until police dispersed the protesters, some of whom chanted, "Death to America!"

Witnesses said rioters also damaged more than 200 cars, dozens of shops and a large portrait of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Vandals broke the windows of a Holiday Inn, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.

Two movie theaters were torched, and clouds of tear gas and black smoke from burning vehicles drifted through streets in the city center.

A security guard shot and killed two protesters trying to force their way into a bank, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said, adding that paramilitary forces were deployed to restore order.

Mohammed Tariq, a doctor at the state-run Mayo Hospital, said three people were being treated for serious bullet wounds, and eight more suffered injuries during clashes with police.

The protest was organized by a little-known religious group supported by local trade associations and one of the main Islamic schools in the city. Intelligence officials, however, suspected that members of outlawed Islamic radical groups may have incited the violence.

Raja Mohammed Basharat, law minister for Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, said the organizers promised Monday that the demonstration would be peaceful.

No one has been arrested for the violence, but those responsible would be punished, he said.The unrest began Tuesday in the nation's capital, Islamabad, about 180 miles northwest of Lahore, when between 1,000 and 1,500 people, mostly students, marched into a fenced-off diplomatic enclave through the main gate, as about a dozen police looked on.

The stick-wielding crowd charged about a half-mile down the road to the British High Commission, or embassy, where the students rallied briefly until police fired tear gas. Outside the enclave, protesters smashed street lights and burned tires while chanting "Death to America!" and other slogans. Police rounded up about 50 protesters and put them in pickup trucks.

Another protest in Islamabad drew about 4,000 people. Separately, about 50 lawmakers from religious and moderate parties marched from Parliament to the diplomatic enclave, where they stood silently for five minutes before dispersing.

Hard-line cleric Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, senior leader of an opposition coalition of six religious parties, said, "We have come to the doors of the embassies to take our voice to the ambassadors. There is anger in the Islamic world. If they do not listen, their problems will increase."

People in this conservative Muslim nation have been enraged by the publications of the drawings, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September. Papers in other countries, mostly Europe but including some in the United States, reprinted them.

One of the caricatures depicts Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with an ignited detonator string.

Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.

There have been a series of mostly peaceful protests across Pakistan against the cartoons, and last week Parliament adopted resolutions condemning the drawing. Lawmakers also called for a nationwide strike on March 3.

But Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawmaker with the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, said he will propose that the government call off the March 3 protest strike because of the prospect of further violence. "It's really gotten out of hand," Ahsan said. "The violence is spiraling out of control."

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Updating...

2006-02-11T13:06:00.000-06:00

Here's another pic taken just the other day. She was feelin' nice and comfy after a sponge bath.

Ahhhh, finally have a minute to blog. :-) Things are going really good here with baby Sara. Shakil and I are just so in love with her and she is just the most precious gift from God. I feel so blessed to have her. I can just stare into those beautiful eyes of hers for hours. When I look at her I just can't believe she's ours.

She's been breastfeeding like a pro since day 2. She turned 1 week old on Thursday. I think I'm pretty protective with her in terms of hygiene. I really don't like for anyone to hold her unless they have washed or use some hand sanitizer. Maybe its just because she is newborn but I really have a problem if someone doesn't clean their hands prior to touching her. I especially am bothered if they go to touch her little hands and their hands aren't clean. Sara loves to put her hands in her mouth. I was using hand covers but her hands are so little right now that none of them fit right now.

My Mom has been helping me sooooooo much!! I don't know what I would have done without her. It has enabled me to recover from the c-section which is still very tender but getting better.

Shakil pops up at night - no problem every night to help out. He's being a very good daddy!

My MIL, FIL and BIL have goneo to Karachi for a visit so its just me, Sara, Shakil and my Mom here at the house for now. The sweets have slowed up on coming to the house. We had so much sweets coming in and that makes it pretty darn hard to lose any weight gained! It has been oh so tasty though!!

I go back to the doctor on Monday to get the steri-strips taken off my incision. Hopefully, the doc will be done with me.

Other than that, I'm just trying to get sleep anytime, anywhere - I'm beat but its sooooooo worth it!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Sara Elizabeth has arrived!!!!

2006-02-05T13:31:00.000-06:00

My baby girl is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me give you the story. On Wednesday the 1st I went in for my 38 week appt and had been feeling bad for the 2 days prior and was even feeling bad while I was in the waiting room. I just didn't feel "right". I had been sleeping quite a bit and was having constant headaches. Well, the night before I decided I better check my BP because of the headaches - just what I figured my BP had shot up to 146/100 and that was at midnight and I had been resting. Per usual the nurse at the doctor's office checked my BP at the visit and it was about 140/90 which isn't too bad - but still high. The doc came in and he was not happy with that BP and made the nurse check again after he did an internal exam on me - which by the way Sara had not dropped yet and my cervix was still closed up nice and tight. Next BP reading was 160 something over 100. Doctor immediately set up for me to be admitted in the hospital for observation. He told me that we needed to get the baby out soon. He wanted me the BP to be monitored and if it stayed up high he was going to deliver same day on the 1st and if it lowered some he would deliver her on the 2nd. He also did the fetal heart monitoring on her and she did show some distress.

After leaving the doctor Shakil and I were of course very excited about Sara coming sooner but tense at the same time. We headed home and I called my Mom to tell her the news. She was due to leave to come here in a few hours. I was hoping Sara would hold out and she did but the BP just took over things. I had a feeling that my BP would go back up in the end of pregnancy. I already had Sara's bag packed but my bag was not packed at all.

To make a very long story short Sara came by C - section on the 2nd of February. Shakil was with me in the OR and that was very comforting. I was so very scared. I wasn't able to get the epidural because of a big curve in my spine that I didn't even know existed. They did general anesthesia on me so I was completely knocked out. Sara was born Feb. 2nd at 12:15 p.m., weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces, 16 1/2 inches long. I have to admit she is absolutely beautiful and she has captured both of our hearts.

I got to leave the hospital on Sunday the 5th. Tonight is Sara's first night home. My Mom did arrive here safely but was several hours late for the birth. I'm just glad she is here - its been wonderful. :-)

Shakil is quite the proud father. I can already tell Sara has got him wrapped around her finger. The way he looks at her is just priceless and makes me feel all warm inside.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts/prayers. Big thank you to Ayalguita for what you sent baby Sara. The toy will come in handy big time and the little outfit is just toooo cute!! Thank you, thank you!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

37 wks and counting...

2006-01-27T13:39:00.000-06:00

I had my 37 week appt on Wednesday. The doctor informed us that baby is still up VERY high and has not dropped down AT ALL. She is head down - She still has time though the way I see it. Doc is concerned that she might not decend down. He is going to check again at my 38 week appt and see if she's dropped. At my 39 week appt he's going to order another ultrasound to check on things and also the cord that is around her neck. If baby doesn't decend down by 39 weeks he is going to start discussing C - section with me. I've been told to keep close tabs on her movements and if I notice any decrease in her activity to go back in for fetal heart monitoring. She is doing well though and I'm sooo anxious to meet her!!

In other news, Shakil is off tonight (Friday) which is nice for a change. He's been in some training and his schedule is all switched up. He is off Friday and Saturday this week.

We went today to get a mattress for the baby's crib and also a few other baby items. I love seeing all the baby stuff. They really do have a lot here but the prices are a bit higher than the U.S.

My Mom will be here this time next week and I can't wait!! She arrives next week - late Thursday night about 1:30 a.m. It sure is going to be different around here having my Mom - different in a good way of course! :-)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Waiting and waiting...

2006-01-23T14:49:00.000-06:00

I think as each week passes by I become more and more anxious. I'm at 37 wks now and I feel like my due date (Feb. 12th) is dayssssssssssss away. I guess its not too far away but I'm becoming more and more miserable as the days go on. I'm starting to wonder how much bigger my stomach can get and my gosh is it tight/hard now.

Last night Shakil and I stayed away from home and I started having some pretty strong contractions - some that really took me off my feet where I had to sit down and wait for it to pass before I could get up again. Once I got into bed and layed down to relax - they subsided. My Mom arrives on the 3rd so I'm hoping/praying that baby doesn't decide to make her appearance before her grandmother gets here!!!

Sleep? What is that? I don't get much of it anymore at all. I seem to get a couple or hours here and there and most of the time its interrupted sleep. Shakil schedule at work has changed and he's doing some training for the next 2 wks from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. (Monday - Friday). I was at first a bit aggravated that he'd be gone all night long but now I've got the bed allllllllllll to myself with some peace and quiet - no snoring to listen to. :-)

I don't have much else to update on. My MIL is still driving me nuts but at his point I think anything could drive me nuts!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Officially started my 9th month!!

2006-01-15T13:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, now I'm getting very excited since I've officially started my 9th month of pregnancy!! I wanted to thank everyone that took the time to give me some advice on what to pack in the bag for the hospital and what is a necessity, etc. I really appreciate it! :-)

I've been having to sleep on the sofa now for about hmmm, well....several weeks now because of Shakil's obnoxious snoring. I'm having a hard enough time sleeping anyway because of my huge stomach and the snoring doesn't help. I just think I'm sleeping rather light these days and Shakil sleeps so deep and hence starts to snore. Anyway, I've opted to go downstairs to the drawing room and sleep on the sofa. There is a comfy sofa down there that has been my bed now for a while. I stay down there most of the night and then about 9 a.m. or so I return back to our bedroom. I do get aggravated sometimes that Shakil has not once offered to sleep on the sofa so I could sleep in the bed. He just doesn't want to leave "his" bed. ::sigh::

Yesterday for some strange reason I had some energy that came out of nowhere. I actually went to the market with Shakil and walked around A LOT. I didn't even have a nap or anything. I did laundry (I had been letting the maid do it) and cooked a nice meal for myself. I have to cook separately for myself because there is nothing but goat cooking going on in this house. I don't eat goat or mutton as its called here. I wonder if I'm going to be just beat tomorrow - maybe not.

Shakil and I have officially decided on a first name for our baby but I'm not sharing!!!! I'll let it out when she is born. :-) I go back to the doctor on Tuesday and then every Tuesday after that until she arrives.

My Mom will be here 2 weeks from this coming Wednesday. I'm so very excited about that!!! She has bought baby so much stuff and I can't wait to see it all. :-)

Nothing else really going on here. All my thoughts are revolved around baby at this point.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Calling on you Mommy's for help

2006-01-09T12:57:00.000-06:00

As most of you know or maybe you don't know - the baby I'll be having is Shakil and I's first baby. Shakil had been discussing on his blog about what I'll need at the hospital, etc. and Ayalguita posted a comment of items that will be needed for the baby and items that'll be needed for me. I just want to make sure that I have everything ready and if you mommy's have time and could post a comment with items you found that were a necessity, I'd appreciate it. Here's my list of things for baby thus far...

diapers
pajamas
daytime clothing
nice outfit to wear home
socks
caps
bibs
hand covers
pacifiers
diaper rash cream
baby blanket
baby towels
baby comb
baby washcloths
baby wash
baby lotion
burping cloths
small bowl for giving baby sponge bath

I started washing baby clothes, socks, etc. today and those tiny little socks are just precious!!! I'm so excited!!

**Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!!! :-)

Until later...

Bye for now.

Rained out and moving right along...

2006-01-06T12:36:00.000-06:00

I attended the last function of Shakil's cousin on Sunday. It was being held at Shakil's grandparents outside in the huge tent. These tents are huge and I've never seen anything like 'em. The setup was beautiful. Well, the day started out pretty dreary and we arrived at the function about 10 p.m. I think. We found a seat and it wasn't more than 10 minutes after we arrived that it started to just pour down rain then the leaking started. They were doing their best to get the bulges taken care of that were making the tent weak - nothing was really working and the rain wasn't letting up. Shakil started to get really nervous and we moved into the house along with many others to make sure we stayed safe. My FIL and BIL remained in the tent - God knows why. FIL thought that Shakil was just going into a panic. He was just being cautious. No one could predict what could happen.

We stayed in the house for a while and then the rain start to let up. We were told that they were serving dinner so we headed back. It literally looked as if a tornado had swept through there. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little but it was bad. There was food everywhere. It's as if people just tore through the food. I couldn't even find anything to drink. A relative of Shakil did find me a little bit of coke and got some for me - I was so damn thirsty. You couldn't even find water. I love the desserts at these functions and the dessert area was just a mess and everything was basically picked over and gone. No one was even using utensils to cut cake or or whatever. I think they were just using their own fork, spoon, whatever and going straight for it.

11:30 p.m. rolled around and I was becoming exhausted from standing and walking around. I asked for Shakil to take me home since "home" is about 5 minutes away. He agreed to take me home and when we got home, the damn electricity was out. Go figure. Anytime it rains here - at least in our area, the electricity goes out. I opted to not stay at home in the dark by myself so we headed back. There were going to be LOTS of leftovers from the function because many dishes were just not put out because of the rain/tent issues. Shakil was to return with a couple of pots to take food home.

We arrived back to pick up FIL, BIL and MIL. My FIL kept having Shakil go back for more and more food leftovers. You'd be shocked at how much food was brought back to our house. It's just too much! Plus, my MIL thinks that food just lasts forever and its ok to eat on chicken that is a week plus old. Yuck! She did freeze some so that was a good thing. I ate on the food for 3 days and I'm through! No more for me.

Had my ultrasound today and baby is doing fine. She is a little over 5 pounds now. She does have the cord wrapped around her neck one time so we are having to watch that closely. I'm at 35 weeks now instead of 34. So my due date has changed to February 12th. I just can't wait to see our little girl and hold her. We did get a good ultrasound pic of her that shows her side head profile (forehead, nose, lips, chin, etc.) I just might have to put that on my blog when I get a chance. :-) Doctor told me some exercises that I can do that might ease some of the pain I'm having from the pressure of baby on my pubic bone. Bad news is that he said it's only going to get worse. ::sigh:: I need to do some of those exercises before bed - whenever that is because I don't get good sleep at all anymore.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updates and a Happy New Year!!!

2005-12-31T13:09:00.000-06:00

I first wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!!! Here's hoping for a great year ahead!!!

Well, I'm inches from 34 weeks now and I'm really and I do mean really uncomfortable these days. My sleep is just not the same and I can barely turn over in bed. Shakil has to give me a good push so I can get myself turned over. I'm in my 8th month and I can't imagine how my 9th is going to be. YIKES!! I have an ultrasound on the 6th and I'm counting down the days. I cannot wait to see my little girl in action again and this late in pregnancy!! :-) My Mom will be here in 1 month and I'm so very anxious to see her and by the time she arrives it will be almost 5 months since I've seen her.

A wedding for Shakil's 1st cousin started a few days back and I really had the intention of not attending any of the functions. My MAIN reason (there were other reasons but...) was that I just didn't have anything fancy to wear to it and when the 2nd function rolled around I got to thinking about that maybe I should go BUT I did need something nice to wear. I told Shakil and the next morning he took me out to find something/tailored for the wedding that night - Yes, that night. He was able to purchase the fabric, give it to the tailor and it was ready about 1 hour before we were to leave for the function. This function was held over at the brides house outside. I have to admit it was a beautiful setup. I have never seen so many people before - I can't even begin to imagine how many were there.

Since you might be wondering or not what my other reason for not attending would be (yes, I'm going to tell you anyways) I have a hard time with LARGE crowds and I mean large crowds where most people don't know me, know me or won't talk to me, etc. I'm just different in their eyes and I understand that but it doesn't make it easy on me. I decided to suck it up and I attended. I did have a nice time and a big thanks goes out to hubby who bought me the beautiful shalwar kameez to wear. I think the only negative thing that happened was that I wore heels - no I'm not crazy, it was all I had to wear, some standing, lots of walking around and the braxton hicks that decided to occur while I was there. When we arrived home that night, I was beat. I woke up about 5 a.m. with the worst leg cramps!!!!!!! I feel like an old woman!

I've attended another function last night since the one I mentioned and it went just as well. I had a nice time. The food was fabulous. There is one more to go Sunday night and then its all over. I think I'm happy about that.

Let's see, what else...oh yes, the servant here. My MIL HAS to have a servant here and I'm fed up with this boy. He is at least 13 years old and she pampers him so much. There are some things I can tolerate and some things that I just have NO tolerance for. One thing I have NO tolerance for and hubby agrees as well is hygiene. I have started calling him "dirty boy" to Shakil. He doesn't know how to wash dishes - we find dirty plates, etc and there is much more but I'll refrain from going over it all. Shakil tells me he just has to be trained - well he's been here for a while now and there are still issues with him and I've been told that servants are just constant issues and you have to watch them alllllllllll the time. I'm praying that he's gone SOON!

I think that is enough updating for now - I gotta lay down! :-)

Until later - hopefully not MUCH later...

Bye for now.

Merry Christmas!!!

2005-12-24T12:18:00.000-06:00

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas to all that celebrate!!!!!!!!!

Down in the dumps

2005-12-22T21:14:00.000-06:00

Well, I wish I could tell you that I've been feeling good but lately I've been feeling very emotional. I guess that goes with being separated from my family for so long and also being in a unfamiliar country. It may also go with being 8 months pregnant - hell if I know.

Life isn't easy for me here at all by any stretch of the imagination. For anyone who hasn't ever been to another country, there are just so many differences - which you know are to be expected but until you really experience it - you'll never even imagine how it is.

I guess everyone gets down every now and then regardless of where they are - I shouldn't be any different. I guess I'm just too wrapped up in my own emotions to really think about how I'm not the only one. Selfish I guess.

I went to the OB for my 32 week check and everything is fine with baby. I will be having an ultrasound at my next visit where I'm 34 weeks. I'm verrrrrrrry excited about seeing her again and how much she's grown - God knows I've grown!! ha ha Not much more time left, I'm on the homestretch as I keep saying. :-)

Note to self: chin up, keep going, everything will be just fine! Today is new day.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Updates...

2005-12-16T17:47:00.000-06:00

Well, today is Saturday - bright and early, it's almost 5 a.m. I'm sitting here next to the heater which btw is working much better now. There hasn't been any fumes. I'm chatting off and on to Shakil and I just finished chatting with my Mom in the U.S. I'm inches from hitting 32 weeks in my pregnancy and I find that I'm just as tired and sleepy as I was in my first trimester. I found the 2nd trimester to be the most enjoyable. You just feel more "normal" I guess. It was my best time. I feel like I'm on the homestretch now though and soon God willing our little girl will be here. Today I was laying on the sofa watching some t.v. and I had the remote control on my tummy and I got the strongest kick from her - the remote control completely raised up off my tummy. Strong little girl we have. :-)

My Mom received her Pakistan visa just the other day. She'll be purchasing her ticket most likely tomorrow and will be arriving here on February 3rd. This will be her second time to come here. She came here the 1st time with me when I married Shakil back in February of 2004. So she has met a good part of the family and she'll be able to become even more acquainted with them this time 'a round since she'll be here for a longer period of time. She is becoming more and more excited by the day at the thought of another grandchild. I have 2 brothers and only 1 of them has kids - 2 of them, ages 13 and 11 so its been a while since there has been a baby in the family.

Just the other day Shakil bought our little girl her crib. It is just precious and I can't wait to see her in it. We pretty much have everything together and there will only be a few more things that I need. My Mom is bringing more stuff from the U.S. because the prices of things here are just ridiculous. For example, I'm going to be using the Avent bottles. In the U.S. I maybe paid $2 and some change for a bottle. Here they cost well over $5 per bottle. Even things like bibs cost more here and even baby lotion and baby wash, etc.

I go to the doc on Wednesday for my 32 week check and I should be getting another ultrasound at 36 weeks. I'll need to confirm that with the doc.

FIL, MIL and BIL arrive back here on Sunday at 8 a.m. so things should start to get more interesting again or aggravating - one or the other.

Until later...

Bye for now.

I smell gas....from the heater that is...

2005-12-10T14:01:00.000-06:00

It has become much cooler here where we live in Pakistan and in fact it is COLD here at night. Its predicted that tonight it will get down to 37 degrees F. When you are living in a house that has all marble floors and it is completely made of concrete - it gets very cold inside. There is really no insulation. There have been times I've stepped outside and it actually felt warmer than it did on the inside of this house.

We started using a portable gas heater and we used this heater when I was here earlier this year and didn't seem to have any problems - however, there is only 1 in the entire house. I knew that when FIL, MIL and BIL returned there would need to be another heater. A few days back Shakil bought a new one and it is a tad bit bigger but the same style. He's hooked it up and we've been using it and it does give some good warmth however I smell gas everytime its used. The past 2 days I've had a headache that I can't seem to get rid of and now I'm blaming it on the gas heater. I really feel there is a leak somewhere. Shakil has checked several times and says there is not a leak but it really scares me because it is not safe for me or my unborn baby.

Tonight I was using it, just long enough to heat up the room slightly and it wasn't long that my headache returned. I went downstairs to have dinner and when I was away from our bedroom where the heater is - my headache went away and I just felt "better". Shakil was thinking that maybe there is the gas smell when we are just running the pilot. Well, I've had the headache and have smelled gas regardless of whether it is on pilot or not. I've turned it off completely and shut off the gas lever. I've told Shakil that its just not worth it to me and I'm not taking any risks since I'm pregnant.

He needs to get it fixed because this gas heater will be our source of heat when baby arrives and it just scares me to think that there is a leak - even the smallest of leaks.

Update: FIL, MIL and BIL return back on the 18th - so no more "alone time" for Shakil and I. I've really enjoyed the time we've had together "alone". It really has been great!!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Got sick :-(

2005-12-09T13:53:00.000-06:00

I thought I was doing pretty good here considering its almost been 3 months I've been back here now and nothing has gotten me sick. It alllllllllll changed early Thursday morning. Let me start from the beginning. Wednesday night hubby and I were watching t.v. and of course in the late evening I became hungry (one of the trials and tribulations of being over 7 1/2 mos pregnant - I'm regularly hungry). I decided that I'd make some chicken wings. We have a box of frozen wings in the freezer that are by a reputable company we choose to use. The company is K&N. I've never had any problems with their chicken product at all. I also had a side of dal (lentils) that I had previously cooked. Those wings went down great - they tasted fantastic to me. I really enjoyed them. I did peel off the skin trying to be a bit more healthy since they were fried.

Shakil and I went to bed at about 2 a.m. At 5 a.m. I was making regular and I mean regular trips to the restroom. Then the stomach pains started shortly thereafter. I waited until 9 a.m. to wake up Shakil to tell him that I wasn't feeling well. He told me to lay down and try to relax but the pains in my stomach just became worse and worse. In the meantime, I had drank some 7-up in hopes that might help a bit. No more than 30 minutes after I drank that 7-up - I vomited it up. :-( God I hate to puke!! Yuck!! I only vomited once but did all the dry heaving with it - the worst!!

Shakil got on the phone and tried to contact my OB to get some advice on what we needed to do. Well, he couldn't get a hold of my OB via his cell phone. My OB had his cell phone turned off. The pains in my stomach would start to come and go and I was still making those trips to the restroom. At about 11:30 a.m. Shakil was able to finally get a hold of my OB. He suggested that I take 2 imodium right then and if I was still visiting the restroom in the afternoon then to take 1 more. The 2 imodium did the job - thank God. My OB also suggested a med to get for the nausea/vomiting. Doc said that I could have some fruits and stay on clear liquids for 24 hours. I proceeded to have a banana and puked that up as well. Sheesh!! Shakil got the med for my stomach and I took it immediately. I guess about 30 minutes later my stomach pains completely subsided and I was finally able to get some sleep and rest. I slept the entire and I do mean ENTIRE rest of the day.

This morning I had some eggs and they settled just fine with stomach. I haven't had any more issues. We are assuming it was the chicken wings I had but Shakil had the same wings the next day and had no problems, hell if I know what happened. Maybe it was the dal - it had been in the fridge for several days. We just don't know. Shakil thinks it is just normal pregnancy issues but I told him not to this extent. It was bad!! I feel better now and that is alllll that matters.

Its about 1 a.m. here right now and I've got some chicken marinating for Chicken Handi. It has become one of my favorite dishes here. I think it is a lot like the Butter chicken but has a bit more of a kick to it. I'll be cooking that up here shortly. Yes, my timing is allll screwed up. I'm usually awake at night and sleep during the day with hubby since we works nights.

Until later...

Bye for now.

Its cold and stop that snoring!

2005-12-03T12:57:00.000-06:00

Its about 12 a.m. here right now and I'm sitting here chatting off and on to Shakil while he's a work and I have our little gas heater turned on keeping me warm. It feels so good!! The weather has really turned cooler here. I've seen that it has gotten to 39 degrees Farenheit in the night. It is still getting to about 70 degrees during the day but this house stays so cold. Shakil and I are wrapped up (me more than him) in blankies most of the day.

I'm sleeping soooooooooo much lately. Its as if I can't get enough. I pretty much sleep on and off most of the day. My pregnancy is really progressing and that is what I blame it all on. I hit 30 weeks next Thursday. I blame a lot of it on Shakil as well. His snoring at night has reallllllllllllly become a problem. It constantly disturbs me. If he falls asleep before me then there is no way I can fall asleep unless I am damn tired. The other night I was fed up with it and decided to go into the next room which is just a lounge and sleep on the sofa. I was laying there thinking, "what am I doing here - I'm the one that is pregnant and uncomfortable most of the time." Well in the meantime I fell asleep and started to have nightmares. Well, after that nightmare I quickly returned back to my bed so I'd have hubby with me. :-) I did fall right asleep when I went back to bed. Does anyone have a remedy to STOP SNORING???? HELP!!!

Everything else is fine here I guess. The maid comes in 6 days/week and arrives at about 10 a.m. or so. Shakil has to get up and deal with her since I can't communicate with her but I get up as well so its just not him. I make him breakfast if he wants, etc. or start making some dinner item or whatever.

MIL will be returning very soon I would assume since there is a marriage ceremony at the end of the month plus she will be here for when I give birth.

Until later...

Bye for now.

The color purple

2005-11-28T15:09:00.000-06:00

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!!!!!!!!

2005-11-27T10:23:00.000-06:00

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?

2005-11-25T12:50:00.000-06:00

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...

2005-11-23T16:12:00.000-06:00

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...

2005-11-19T14:27:00.000-06:00

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

2005-11-12T15:42:00.000-06:00

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!!

2005-11-11T14:16:00.000-06:00

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.