Sandier Pastures

13 REASONS WHY I FEEL LOVED (BY MY KIDDO)

1. At the end of the day, when asked if she missed me, I get a big YES all the time.

2. She tells me I love you before going to bed.

3. Starts the day in the morning by waking up and kissing me saying, I love you.

4. She says I love you in her sleep too.

5. She checks if I have my spoon and fork before we start eating.

6. When she gets candies from a party, she always leaves something for me no matter if it’s her favorite candy.

7. She showers me with kisses even before I can take off my shoes in the front door.

8. At school, she brags to her friends, “My mom did this, that…”

9. She looks for me when she wakes up in the morning.

10. She looks for me when she is sick.

11. She won’t let anyone wash her empty lunch box after school before she shows to me that she all all the food I prepared!

12. On a windy day, she whispers: “Mom, are you cold?”

13. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she answers: “Just like my mom.”

I can’t just let that dirty post sit on top of my blog for more than 24 hours, can I?

Sorry for the people who were eating while reading that icky yucky post. As much as I want to delete it, I won’t because that is part of our Dubai life documentation of sorts.

Moving on… 

Thanks for the advices on my Arabic class - gym dilemma. I signed up for the class but was refused admission. Due to the popularity of the course, it was on first come, first served basis and I only sent my name in after I wrote the blog post. In short, I was too late and will join next time. So that means, for now, it is the gym for me.

Speaking of which, there was an accident at the gym last night! A female gym member fell on her head while doing back crunches on a Roman chair back hyperextension, like this:

This is so hard to explain but: The lever on her feet suddenly propped up while she was facing down and trying to raise her upper body. Since there was nothing to support her weight, she fell on the floor head first.

Paramedics came and caused a commotion. Hotel guests(the gym is inside a hotel)  thought someone drowned in the pool. The injured member was taken to the hospital because almost immediately after complaining of pain, she threw up - not a good signal for head injuries.

It looked like she didn’t check the lever lock used to adjust the height of the machine. The instructor and the doctor said the machine is perfectly safe is you only check everything before using. In any way, I am not going to touch that thing and will stick to the treadmill and free weights for now.

Our car is parked in our apartment building basement. In the basement ceiling, there are big plastic pipes with gushing water sound in them.

Pristine would always ask, almost every morning, “what’s that sound, mom?” or “What’s inside those, mom?”

“Oh, It’s from the toilets. Your morning xxx is being flushed and going through those pipes right now.”

Then we both scream, Yuuuck!

In truth, I don’t know what’s in these pipes. I make up ewww stories just like that.

This morning, as we went out of the elevator in the basement, I heard gushing sound of water. Remembering what I told my daughter I thought, hmmm, so many people must have been in the toilet that very minute to produce that sound. A few meters away, I noticed that the pavement was wet and water was gushing from the pipes.

In the wet pavement were “mysterious yellow substances”.

Do you still want me to continue?

Ok, I will.

The smell confirmed it all. The pipes with monstrous gushing sound was indeed from the toilets and obviously contained no less than *cough* human waste which has has leaked and spilled all it’s contents on the basement floor. (Typing this is making me dizzy)

Ooh, don’t look for any evidence photo. I was running for my life in the other way to our car and sped off.

Thankfully, Pristine is having 2-weeks vacation from school and not with us this morning. Tonight, we’ll have to find another temporary parking space until the mess is cleaned up. I don’t want to see that before dinner!!

Our new company implemented a way to stop dramatic entrances by  putting a log book in the reception area where employees need to sign once they arrive.

No big deal but the catch? The log book is only available until 8:40 am. If you arrive at 8:41, you’ll have to carry on, bring  your tardy self to face the HR manager.

This is not exactly good news to me especially now that I have been coming 5-10 minutes late because the roads in my area changes overnight almost on a daily basis! While stuck in traffic, I always tell myself “all these construction and discomforts are for a better Dubai” but with the log book issue at the office, I couldn’t care for the betterment of Dubai blah anymore. All I know is that I have to get myself before 8:40 am no matter what - - the HR manager’s face is not something I want to see to start my day! 

Just when things are going smooth at the gym, meaning, I am not dreading the thought of sweating it out, running on the mill and at the sauna, something came up. Not the excuses, no, because I am determined to continue because I am actually enjoying my time there. If I have known before that sauna sessions had a relaxing effect physically and emotionally, I would have done it years before.

Back to the topic…I got an email from work that the company is offering Arabic classes, for FREE. No catch, the course is a three-week, 2 hour each session and it’s absolutely free of charge to employees. The course runs on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 pm, 35 sessions in all. Wow, the cost of this course when taken outside could easily come up to 5,000 dirhams.

I would love to take Arabic classes and learn the language (although there’s really no need of it in the office because English is used) but learning a new language is always a great challenge I always dig….and it’s free. But what about the gym? and wouldn’t it be too late to go home after classes? Will it be really worth it? Wouldn’t I just forget about it after I learned it because I won’t  be able to practice it at home or at work? Will my brain be able to take another foreign language squeezed inside?

I am torn.

This week’s theme: Glass

Beautiful stained glass inside the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.

Author: Christopher Gavigan

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Dutton Adult (April 17, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0525950478

ISBN-13: 978-0525950479

Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home has helped me understand and inspired me to focus on my most important role as a parent - keeping my child healthy.

The easy to read book is filled with easy steps and easy to follow solution to improve family home living without greatly affecting our schedules or budgets. There are so many ideas for eco-friendly cleaning methods to those who decide to go a little green in their home. I know parenting is challenging enough and going green at home sounds like a lot more difficult but this book provides great tips to start with practical and effective solutions to guide parents in their mission. 

I am glad to be educated about easy, budget friendly cleaners and choosing healthier food and learn about the risks of today’s toys for my child.

I highly recommend this book to my friends who are also moms but they have to get their own copy because I am not giving up my own! It will stay in my bookshelf because I am sure I’d be going back to it again and again.

About the Author
Christopher Gavigan is the CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, a national non-profit dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of children and families through cleaner, greener, and safer lifestyle changes.

This was part of the Mother Talk blog tour.

Are you beach ready? We are! Here are things I always bring during beach trips.

1. Sunblock - With the thinning of the ozone layer, this is a must have, especially for the young beach lover who doesn’t mind staying under the sun for hours!

2. Sunglasses - To protect our eyes from glare. I don’t remove my sunglasses even if I am in the water, unless of course, if I have to submerge my head.

3. Swimsuits - I prefer those that look like wet suits for scuba diving for the little girl. It saves her back from sunburn.

4. Floating device - For fun and for my safety - I can’t swim.

5. Water - Lots and lots of it.

6. Camera - I badly want an underwater camera to take photos of the fishes swimming around us even in shallow waters!

7. Hat - for the little girl.

8. Food - When we go to the beach, we usually stay for the whole day so we have our breakfast, lunch and snacks there. We are home by sunset.

9. Picnic mat - for picnic!

10. Tent - A must if we plan to spend the whole day there. Also convenient when we change our clothes and the changing room is too crowded.

11. Air bed - We bought this because sleep is definitely better using this than sleeping on the grass.

12. Small radio - we love to listen to good afternoon music while taking a nap inside the tent, under the trees.

13. First aid kit- With bandages, alcohol, fever medicine, itch lotion, betadine solution, band aids, wet tissue, etc.

Good News! IT’S THE RIGHT TIME TO WORK IN THE GULF!

Hot news in ‘Gulf News’

In UAE, all private companies need to give minimum of 15 % salary increment to all employees every six months as per latest bill passed.

Finance Minister, has approved and it comes to immediate effect from 1st April 2008, which is after the financial period March month. This comes as a relief to petitioners appealing against the growing work hours in UAE industry without a proper system to check overtime. The bill also mentions that all employees be provided 20 days of casual leave every year.

For more information, please see the attached file.

*****

I was nodding and nodding in agreement, and then I clicked the attached file

I’ve enlisted myself into a health club. I am doing this because of health reasons and I want to wear a bikini on the beach, just for once! lol!

It’s really convenient for me and my schedule because the gym is located inside a hotel near where I live. Jogging at the park was ok but I decided I would love, I mean, I needed to do strength training as well so the gym enrolment.

Exercise would consist of cardio (running on the mill) and weight training. It will be capped with a sauna (I love these hellish rooms)  and shower before I head home. I have 4 months to gather up my act regarding my weight and it has come to a point where exercise is a non-negotiable part of my life.  

This is not an April fool’s day joke.