And yes, there is more!!

Oh my God, Oh my God!  My friend!!  You left me!!!
Ahh....old times... hanging on 'Big Momma's' desk..
Oooh, rrrrrrrrrrrr...????

Uki can't decide!!!

The curiosity is too great!  Who is this??
Hmm....nice
Potential
Nice feel to it...
Don't worry, haven't forgotten my old friend!!

Before and After!

This is a picture of the cat's toy fishy.  She is trashed by Uki!!  She loves this little guy!

Here is the new one that I found tonight!  This is the original state.  Haven't given it to her yet...
Here they are together!  What a pair.  It makes me smile!  Sometimes, this is how I feel at the beginning of the day and by the end of the night.....   ;0

What can I say?

Ok.  Done with that!  I will try to make it easier to read next time.  For some reason, I upload the photos in the right order but they don't come up the same on the actual site.  I need to figure that out.  Cool, someone from Bombay in on right now!  I hope you enjoy your visit!  Ok. I'm off to fix lunch and then figure out how to upload videos...

More to my Mom's Paperbag Album

Uki came by to give me some love.  She made 'biscuits on my legs, by the way, OUCH!

Here is a mini book inside the album that I managed to put about 18 photos of The Grand Mosque visit.  My mom wore an abaya!  Next time, she won't!  She was dying under the veil and trying to keep it on!  

Here is that one page with the kitties insert.  I wanted to show that there is an insert in the bag album.

My Mom's Paperbag Album

Man, I can't remember how I did this.  Anyway, here is a closeup of the insert.

Here is the back

This was a riot.  We had so much fun with my Macbook iPhoto, OMG it wasn't!!!  It is PHOTO BOOTH!!!!!!  Oh, nooooooo....oh well, we had so much fun snapping shots with it.  Not flattering at all!!!
A side view of the album

Here is the front.  I made the flower myself from a tut I found.  Want a tut from me?  Tell me so and I will film one!  You see, I tried to make this very Omani.  I found ribbon with the flag on it and some red, white and green ribbons.  I wanted something typical to here and not recognizable to Americans.  I want my Mom's peeps to go 'WOW!!'
Hi, ok.  I couldn't take it any longer and had to upload some shots of my morning thus far.  I am supposed to take my daughter to the doctor but we are pushing that off till after lunch!  So, I have more play time.  Listen to Mark Anthony's Me Haces Falta.  I love this song!  

I've been sick!!

Sorry everyone, I have been really busy and really sick!  It has gone from my nose running and tickling down to my chest.  I've been a single mom this week as my husband is away to Turkey and it has been hard!  I hit my car driving into my lot and scratched the rearview mirror.  He is gonna freak!  I have been working on a paperbag album for my Mom's visit and it is coming together really well except for the quality of the photos I printed, which I have NEVER done!  I will take some pics and upload them this weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a note when you do so I can see..

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

These are some adorable little Valentine's gifts that I made for my two kids and my Mom and then decided to make for my Hardanger girls for tomorrow.  I got this from a lovely site  http://createdbycourtney.blogspot.com/.  This is my first time doing this so even though I wrote to her, it is night time in the States and I CAN'T WAIT to upload it.  I will add stuff later once I hear from her.  Gotta run and get my babies and give them their treat!

Hi! I'm back!

Hi all.  I have been busy with my Mom's last week with us and getting her out to see as much of the Middle East and do as many things as time would allow!  That one week that she was sick and that I consequently got sick was a time robber!  Now, she has three days left!  Waaaaaa!  Ok.  I need to pull myself together...

Here is a picture of a sewing box that my friend Pam Jacobs gave me about two weeks ago!  I want to learn how to make one but can't find a pattern out there anywhere!  If anyone has any suggestions, it would be great!

Hi!  I am soooo excited!  Look what I have learned to do on my blog!  I am not so sure that I love it, but I am so proud of myself that I figured it out!  It took me a few, well, a while!!  Become a follower too to my blog and I don't know what will happen!

I don't feel like cooking so my Mom, the kids and I are off to Chili's as we have been in the house, especially my mom with her illness.  We need a Quesadilla Explosion salad!!

Until later!....

Waqar wins!!

Waqar, my husband, won at golf last weekend.  He got a lovely, big, fat check to the Shangrilah Resort Hotels and gave it to me to spend on myself and my Mom. Better get to it!!

SKIING IN SWITZERLAND!!!

I'm sooo extremely excited!  Amal, my daughter, is in 7th grade at the ABA (American British Academy) and she signed up to go to Switzerland for a ski trip in April during Spring Break.  She did not get her little check in time and was third on the list!  We got a call just now and the school has a place for her and SHE IS GOING!  I'm more thrilled than she is at present.  I see it as a wonderful opportunity for her and what an experience.  Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, I know snow although I have not seen it in the 14 years that I am here in the Middle East.  She is worried about not knowing any of the kids and I told her to be nice and make friends but basically, screw them!  Let her avail of the wonderful opportunity!!  Yea!!!!!

My Mom watching some Omani ladies doing various handicrafts.  The kids with my Mom with camels!  The men are making traditional Omani Halwa which means sweet.  It is an acquired taste.  I like mine, if I eat it at all, with tons of almonds.  Apparently, this halwa is made from dates which abide here.

Lynne Edward's Reversible Quilt Class Jan/09 Muscat

This was the class that I was most excited about.  I have been wanting to learn this technique for quite some time now.  Thanks Stephanie in Texas!!  This is actually an American woman, Sharon Pederson's technique.  Guess what??!!  I had the book!  I bought it about a year ago in Dubai.  Maybe two years ago!  It is called, Reversible Quilts.

Where my sewing genius exudes!!

One of my nicknames given to me a long time ago by a boy was Coffeebean.  I took the kids in October to Cafe Ceramique which is a painted pottery joint.  We had a lot of fun and I chose this cup as I already have a collection of this art from the States.  We are lucky cuz Sandi, my blood (sister), takes us in Cleveland and then we get to go again with Lizzie, my bestest bud in the world, in St. Louis!  Now, we have it here and they serve lunch which is lovely and expensive!  Anyway, Amal, my daughter, helped me with the idea of doing it coffee style.  So, here we are.  It holds my quilting tools and I even took it to class with Lynne Edwards!  Great idea of mine!

Aw, gee, look at my creative mess!!  That is my little ironing board which is new and I think brilliant!  Then, we have my relatively new table I bought here and it is from Sam's Club!!  How ironic!  The black and blueish fabs are from a Perspective class that I took two weeks ago with Lynne Edwards.  It will be stunning when I finish.

Lastly, my lovely sewing machine.  HE is like the lowest on the totem pole compared to my contemporaries.  They all have super duper machines but I am still happy with mine and he is only about five or six years old now.  He is fondly known to me and my household and THE GERBEAR.  Ger as in Gerry....

Ali's field trip to PDO to hunt insects with the 4th grade class!

Here is my beautiful Ali on the far left with the St. Louis baseball cap in Oman!!  These are a few of his buddies in his class.
Some of the insects we found were a huge black spider, a scorpion!!  I found the shell of a tail of a scorpion too!  We found a weird looking slithering silver-fish looking dude, two grasshoppers, two different kinds of ants.  The black spider was on top of the scorpion and the bigger ant was on top of the littler ant!  Tres cool.  What else?  Can't remember..  Dig the nice nails??

Below are the three kids that I was responsible for at the ABA.  That is Sofia from Portugal, Ali, and Mona from Syria I think!!  They were so excited and proud of all that we caught!

A cool paper candy dish!

I made this little box with a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock.  It was fun and I couldn't figure out how it would work but I'm not that familiar with origami!!  Daim are candy that I can only find at Ikea in Dubai and when I lived in Saudi Arabia.  It is much like our American Heath Bar.  Love them.  This sits in my sewing room.  I need to embellish it a bit on the other two plain sides.  The picture doesn't show the pretty paper.  

Uki in my sewing room

Look at this tired girl.  Not even the snap from the camera got her to move.  Excuse the hideous couch!  

My new Rival Crock Pot

Here is the box.  We, my Mom and I, made a lovely chicken stew.  It was great and I was out taking Ali to get things at City Centre when I called Amal and told her how to use the rice cooker and she made rice!  She is only 12!!