Friends, Lightbulbs and Spongebob

Hello!  The Bryant's are still here in the desert and doing well!  We have been spending our days still setting up the villa and solving small problems here and there!  We have had an AC go BOOM in the night, (not a good sound to hear when you live in the Middle East) and a pool that just won't clear up!  Turns out the AC tripped all the breakers in the house which made the very loud BOOM!  Very loud to my ears and no one else's!  What I am saying is that noone else woke up..except the mama!  The AC has been fixed and the pool is finally swim-able...FINALLY!  

So the villa..It is looking pretty homey and Deric has been a real trooper dealing with me and all the stuff I want hung on walls.  My fellow Americans, do not take your sheetrock walls for granted!!!  In order to hang a picture here it takes a drill with a very large, long bit, a vacuum cleaner, wall plugs and a screw.  Oh, and earplugs for the loud hideous sound of drilling into concrete!  My engineer husband makes you hold the vacuum cleaner very close to where he is drilling to catch all the concrete dust that sprays from the wall!!!  How I miss the days when I waited for Deric to leave for work, I got my hammer and nails and went to hanging!!!  I have posted many pics of the villa and I hope you will all enjoy seeing our lovely green marble floors.   People, I think they are growing on me!

So we have been spending lots of time at Ace Hardware!  Yes, there is an Ace Hardware in Dubai.  Our main reason for the many trips?  LIGHT!  Our villa is very poorly lit!  We got new light fixtures and have had to experiment with different bulbs to find out which put off more light.  Here a lightbulb comes in yellow or white and costs about 1 million dollars.  Well, we first chose white and that was not the right choice! Yellow is what you want!  I have been able to use all my lamps from home and that has taken little converters for each and all new light bulbs....Needless to say, many many trips to the ACE!

We finally figured out how to hook up our cable TV.  This was a sad night that triggered major homesickness!  Our kids have not really watched any TV since we left July 26th!  They have watched some of their DVD's but no "TV"....They were so excited to watch something and were all cozied up on the couch with hopeful, waiting eyes!  So I start flipping through the very weird channels and come across..NICKELODEON!  Their little eyes light up and they get so excited....It's Spongebob..Their American friend! (ha)...However, this Dubai Spongebob speaks ARABIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Needless to say there were tears, fits and many "I want to go HOMEs!!!"  Blake cried and cried that she missed home, her friends, her cousins, her house, her grandparents, Westwood, the list goes on and on and on!  Secretly I wanted to waller and cry with her about all the things that I miss...Sonic diet cokes, HBO shows, friends, my house, grandparents, target, marshalls, next door neighbors, family, eating in public....but that would be irresponsible! I must set an example! So I called Deric in to console her.   All-this-because-of-Spongebob.  Needless to say Mama spent her evening downloading some SB episodes from itunes and Daddy spent the evening on ebay buying a slingbox.  This magic box will catch the cable at Uncle Eric's house in the US and "sling" it to Dubai!  Technology!  I will let you know how that all goes!  And thanks to Aunt Debbie for suggesting the kids just watch Spongebob on the MAC.  It worked and they were happy!

Luke the Duke turns 5 on Thursday.  A whole hand old!  Where does the time go?  We are heading out today to get what we need to bake a cake.  I still have not driven anywhere except to the grocery store.  I am just too chicken to get lost out there!  I think Deric would like me to venture out but I am just not there yet!  Also it is Ramadan and there is just not much to do.  We can't eat out during the day and that really changes alot!  We took the kids to Ikea the other day and there was a little grocery store next door. It was lunchtime and we were all hungry!  We bought some sandwiches and had to hide in the car and eat them!  The kids really don't get this whole fasting thing.  It is hard for them to understand.  Olivia has some choice words for it all that she likes to say very loudly when we are in public....nice.

I will say that we have had many fun nights out with new friends.  It is kind of like blind dating here!  Friends of friends of friends hook you up with other expats and you get invited to their house for playdates or dinner!  We have met some really nice people.  We have had dinner at El Chico and we saw wild parrots from India in a friends back yard!  The kids are loving meeting other kids and I have enjoyed visiting with other moms.  I really look forward to school starting.  It will make things a lot easier to have a routine.  

I am still taking life here one day at a time.  I can't dwell on how homesick I am for my family and friends or that would make for a depressing blog!  I will say that it is peaceful here with the move behind me.  I have actually gotten to read a book and I feel like I am really getting a chance to enjoy my children.  I don't feel rushed and I don't feel overwhelmed!  God has blessed us in so many ways and I am going to continue to trust in his plan for the Bryant 6!  

Living Area..

Adult Beverage Fridge

Daddy's office

We always know what time it is at home!

Kitchen with my little red island!

Another view of the office..gotta love those green floors!

Entryway that I so wished had windows!

Downstairs Guest Bath

Only Closet in the house filled with "smuggled-in" food!

Happy kids

The women of Villa 5

Dinner!

Mom..Come outside!  No!  I'll melt!

Can we have him?  Please?

Cozy Family Room

The Ace

Home is Where the Heart is..