almost done!

We are almost done with intruders in my home. Lots more work to be done for just us such as, decorating and cleaning things really well. We still need to buy some smaller furniture for here and there but right now I am in my room as the men are putting back my blinds. They need to move the bed back into position and other furniture. I thought I bruised my right knee when all this started two months ago but it is really aching so I think I have done some deeper damage. I think I need them there knees so will be seeing a doctor next week. I know he/she will say to lose weight. Hmmm....

My Studio is coming along really well and it is getting really exciting! I will be opening up the Bernina tomorrow and working on my Quilt Market bag that I took a class on in Dubai last week. Wow! It has been a week already!

I think I am coming down with a cold too which sucks. I finished watching the first season of Lost and the kids and I really like it! I think I will go and rent the 2nd season tonight or tomorrow.

The new Dining Room is beautiful and the pieces that I picked up for it to accessorize last week in Dubai are spot on. I am really excited.

The new TV room where my old sewing room was is also just as gorgeous! I picked this crazy couch pattern and thank God the company made matching pillows so that is a headache I don't have to worry about.

The two kids' bedrooms are exquisite. Can you believe that Ali is neater than Amal???? That continues to shock me. The rooms are really grown up and look just fabulous. Their Ikea beds are a dream too!

We only painted my bedroom and got rid of a huge desk. The space that the desk freed up will be the home of my treadmill now. Waqar won't like it but tough. There is no other place to put it and grant it, Amal doesn't want it in her room. (That is where it has been). It just won't fit in my studio.

We got the shelves reinforced in my kitchen so now my millions of cookbooks are happily back in their place and not in the cupboard! I will be getting rid of some of those too.

The shelves that are in the laundry room that house my heavy kitchenware have also been reinforced and all is organized happily now. There are some pieces that will be finding a new home there too! Oooh, now that the kids and I are in Phase 2 of South Beach, we can have bread. I will be baking some fresh wholegrain bread tomorrow with my bread machine. Who says that is not homemade? Huh!!

The men, yikes, are moving my dressing table as I type and the mirror is swaying, JMJ!! Oh, my room has blinds now instead of curtains and the new paint. Now, I have to get busy finishing the quilt that I started for this room and this bed and thank the powers that be that the paint matches the quilt! Maroon is the color.

I still need an AC in my studio which I will get next month and it is already too hot and I still need Waqar to figure out how to get me internet in there. I also need many things hung. I might not wait for that. I think I will do it myself.

I will be having lunch with my bud Nancy not this week but next week. This next week whereas I don't expect any men in my home; I will be sorting and playing. Where shall we meet Nance??

Thanks for popping by. I'll have pics later.

Alia

Studio, Dubai

Here is my new floor. The old floor got thrown out. Finally!

Here is Nena, my new maid, cleaning up the floor. The men could not get my desk out so kept it in and worked around it. The difference in the quality of this new flooring and the old one is incredible.

I did not get the Australian Horn sewing cabinet due to the expense. Lucky to those that do get it. Instead, we got a table from Ikea. You can see it behind Waqar. Here, we are putting together the Expedit 25 cubby thingy.

I don't know what we were thinking but we should have checked twice before bolting this apparatus to the wall. Now, the window won't open all the way! Uki was so intrigued so I placed her up in the cubby!

Waqar put Peachy up there and I think that Uki wanted back up.

The girls helped put the drawers together...

Once the drawers were put in, I put the cat knitted beds in a bottom cubby. They love to cuddle.

Sorry for the blurriness; but here is only some of my stuff in the room. Now that I am back from Dubai; I need to tackle this. Somehow today, I would rather check my messages and play on the net. There is always tomorrow!

This is the last shelf of the five Ikea shelves that I wanted to sell. There is just no room in this house!

I tried to span the room from the entrance starting from the left side of the room.

Here is the Expedit. I started putting some fabric in there but there are so many more upstairs still!

Here is my desk that Waqar is suggesting I get rid of. It takes too much space.

It just keeps coming! Ugh...

The much coveted filing cabinet that I never found in Muscat; see it in the back, the grey one? I got some pendaflex file folders or drop folders as they are called everywhere but America, in Dubai and put them together. Yeah, thanks, they are sitting next to me on my new cool sofa!

I hope to get a copy of a picture from Isra (Sew2bhappy) and Laila (timefortea) from our much anticipated trip to Craftland in Dubai. I just can't be bothered to take photos these days! I carried that sucker everywhere too. Hmm... so these are the only photos that I took and it is of Burg Khalifa; the tallest building in the world. It is just outside Dubai Mall which is the largest shopping mall in the world and the dancing fountains! They danced to Andrea Bocceli. Very nice.

Here is another view with the moon on the right. Isn't it pretty?

I made some promises to myself to live a more positive life. Having hired a maid is the beginning! Now, I can concentrate on other areas of my life. Wish me luck please!

Stay tuned as it will take me some time to get myself sorted and able to reach my new Bernina to finish the tote of the class that I took in Dubai. I hope to make a few more to be given as gifts for those back home in America.

Thanks for stopping by. Now, off to work before I have to pickup the kids.

IKEA Delivery!!!

Hey, this happened like two weeks ago. I had the new Studio flooring put in and if I haven't mentioned it yet; it needs to be replaced. The quality was awful and it was damaged the first day. We went round and round and finally opted to go with a different company. Oh, the saga and dramas of flooring!

It was pretty and it is pretty. I picked a much darker one. No date on when they will be laying that.

I borrowed the old office chair from my desk in my bedroom. That desk is going and so I nicked the chair. This is the first thing that I moved in my new Studio!!

Then, after I had moved a lot of stuff in the Studio and the men were knocking out the ceiling; our truck from Ikea in Dubai arrived! Yippee!!

A glorious 141 boxes of S C H T U F F!!

The local company that delivers to Oman from UAE only provided two men. I felt so bad for them!!

I got so mad at the ceiling guys because they always leave the screen or 'net' as they call it open. Thank you guys for all the mosquitoes and flies and bugs that entered our home! You can see some of our furniture made it outside!

Whew, almost done!! These are the big ticket items and Waqar was just looking. I tried to get him to do a jig for me but alas, he wouldn't play!

The guys heard me trying to persuade Waqar to do this jig and were laughing!

There is the painter. He is doing these side walls white and then there is a shocking blue. I hope Waqar's vision pans out and it makes me happy to be in here! We put all the furniture in the middle of the rooms as the man was painting and another man was putting up wooden baseboards or 'skirting' as they say here.

Lots has gone really wrong. We have 40 steps from the upstairs to our roof. I have been using those steps for the litter box and for my storage of crafts. Yesterday, it rained so very hard here and before the rain hit; the painter did not tell me he was actually painting. I thought he was prepping the walls. Anyhow, he put all my stuff that I have collected over the years on the roof. He opened the roof door for ventilation, I get it. Not a problem. However....when the rains came, he put a plastic cover over it and was watching the rain. The rain hits hard that side and the water was pouring into the house and running down the side of the steps and falling into the rolled up Persian carpets. WITH GREEN PAINT! Yes, we are painting our hallways green. The stupid fool was just watching my very expensive Quilting frames shipped from America get soaked. All my fabric stash (washed, ironed and neatly folded) that is to go into my new Studio was in plastic containers out there. I made him bring in about 40 packages. I was so mad. I opened the most expensive items, the frame (Hinterberg) and my SEWING MACHINE! The frame is alright and so is the machine but still. Now, he is back again doing the second coat and I am waiting for the rain to start up again. There is so much more but I won't bore you all. So, six weeks into this home remodeling is getting to me! I did assemble a couch on my own though. Pictures to follow....

Thanks for stopping by.

Lots to catch up on!

Thanks to Isra for letting me know that I did not post anything!! I have been having a hellish time with my internet connection. I got a new router and all is well but now the internet does not work in my new Studio so I am in the hallway or typing on top of boxes! So, here we go...

We went to Dubai to Ikea to choose all our new stuff. Love the blue and yellow! I got so excited and got this shot of the kids with Waqar walking in the parking lot towards the doors.

I'm not that savvy a photog so they posed for me, bless them! This embarked nine glorious hours of choosing 13 trolley's and 141 packages of furniture for the Studio; the kid's rooms; the Living Room and the Dining Room! Yeah baby!

Back in Oman last week we started to get rid of the furniture. In the far room, which is the DR, we started knocking out the ceiling. They started with the blue tarp on the floor. Meanwhile, the other men were taking out the furniture. Bye bye you freaking couch! No animosity here! Bye bye you bleepity bleep God forsaken ugly and O L D carpet! Clap clap!!

Well well! There they are! We had been looking for all of Uki's balls! They got caught under the couch!

Eek! Here is my sewing room. We need to get the Studio floor changed as what they gave sucks. More photos on that later. Then, all this stuff goes in the Studio and we can start knocking out the ceiling here and painting and all that!

The other side of my old room. That hideous couch is going to a new home that is yet to be determined! Yikes! I have Ikea shelves for sale! I have five but sold two already. I have three left!

Just so you can see how they are knocking out the ceilings. It gets really dusty and we asked them not to brutally destroy them but to slide them out so as not to emit so much dust. Did they listen?, heck no!

The poor kitties are freaked at all the noise. Especially Peaches. She has really been suffering. The vet told me to bring her to a friends' house or to the vet's for a few days. I have kept her with me. Does anyone know a vet in town that will declaw these two babes?

Now they were in the LR and the ceiling is gone. This is the rubble that needed to be picked up. See how he had to cover his face because of the DUST??!!

Waqar came home just in time to save the Bose speakers. You can see that a lot of smaller furniture is outside. Just today we brought it all in as it is supposed to rain tonight.

That is all from this one day. I'll come back and post more from last week's activities!