One Week Later After The Eid

WOW, this time last week we were anticipating the Eid . Look how fast time fly's. Eid has come and gone. It seemed to go on and on this year . I think it was confusing to some people because there were just 2 work days after the end of the Eid, before the weekend started here . I know many people took the entire week off to travel or visit family members that live out side of town. School started back up also , and here again , many of the kids didn't go, waiting until this coming Sunday to start .


Speaking of the Eid ... we had a funny episode here in the Condo .As I told you before, Moe, our son &Co. went visiting the relatives the 1st day . I had a few visitors the 1st day while I was alone . The second day we always have a certain set of friends and relatives that visit on this day. Sure enough they came around. It is always so nice to see people you like and never get to see much of during the rest of the year for one reason or another . Usually on the 3rd day of the Eid we don't have visitors since we have seen everyone by then , but this year was a little different .

Moe and I thinking no one would come over on the 3rd day , didn't bother to put on our Eid clothes , but rather , we sat around in our normal daily clothes, which for that day was old faded shorts and a old T shirt for Moe. I had on a short nightgown that could pass for a dress in the US but not here in Libya , if you know what I mean . They were not clothes we would normally wear around company but since we didn't anticipate having company , we didn't really care what we had on .So ..... there we were , all comfortable puttering around the Condo . Moe watching his sports and I on the computer sending countless joke emails out to my poor friends and relatives choking their mail boxes . The door bell rings .

I am wondering who can that be as Moe opens the door .His brother in law  came to visit . He is a lovely man and loves to laugh . SO , I served them the drinks and sweets and went back on the computer . They talk and laugh  for hours . Then another knock on the door . WOW ! Some one else ? Hum? Open the door to see one of our nieces with her 3 little girls .

I love it when she visits because her girls speak English and I can easily inter-act with them in my language . We had a lot of fun .She has a 2 year old that is a real sweety . She came and took a bite from every sweet on the tray , sampling them until she found the one she liked the best . As one does , you know .LOL !Then they left for home after a nice long visit.


The weather outside was awful that day and had caused me to develop a migraine headache by this time. So when I put the refreshment tray in the kitchen I wasn't thinking clearly due to my headache . I laid down hoping to get rid of the headache . Wrong !

Just as I began to relax the door bell rang again . This was so cool, all these people coming over . I answered the door to find another niece , her husband which I had never met before ( I am still in that nightgown remember since we are STILL thinking NO ONE IS COMING OVER, lol !),and her brand new baby.


They sit down . I went to get the tray . I served them the drinks with sweets that were still on the tray from the last visitor( the niece with the little girls) and they just drink the cokes , not touching the sweets . We had a great visit . The baby was so cute and her husband very nice . I am a little embarrassed because I am in my nightgown but figure HEY , it is too late he saw me already dressed this way so why change .

After a while , they leave too . I am wondering what this man thought about Moe and I dressed so casual when I notice the sweets on the tray that I served them .EACH ONE HAD 1 LITTLE TINY BITE TAKEN FROM THEM, from when our other nieces little girl had sampled them . I had forgotten to change the sweets on the tray after she left , because of my headache !OMG ! Now what that man must think about me ? Wearing a nightgown on the Eid in front of  a strange man , serving them sweets with bites taken from them , lol ! I am sure next Eid he won't be coming over , lol !I still laugh when ever I think about it . Welcome to the family !


The next day a group of my closet friends got together to have coffee and breakfast in the town to celebrate one of their birthdays .We sorta invaded the cafe in mass . Placed our orders and made them turn the TV down so we could talk . We really had a great time . We stay in touch with one another most of the time through phone calls or emails, but with our busy schedules , we very seldom get together all at the same time with each other .This was a real treat  to be able to sit down and visit face to face.


Yesterday I went to visit my friend and neighbor that just returned from her visit home in Amercia . She went home for several months , so we had a ton of gossip to catch up on .She brought back all kinds of goodies with her. She generously served them all up to me .I left her house stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey,  with a bag full of all kinds of things she had brought for my family and I .

Today I think Moe and I will go see one of his sisters that has her daughter staying with her. The niece just had a baby and I haven't seen her yet . All in all it has been pretty busy for us around here. A perfect Eid . Hope your week was just as nice . Blessings , OTE

Are You A Friend?

Facebook , who hasn't heard of it by now ? Do you have a account ? Are you a friend ?I have managed to avoid it so far , just as I have managed to not own a cell phone . I can live with out both ,but can you ? I read the following post on Mental_Floss blog in which the different types of "FRIENDS " may be found . So funny !

A) The Overzealous Updater

This is the friend who can’t go half a day without sharing What’s On His Mind. Honestly people. We really don’t need to know that you’ve just had your second shower of the day. For that matter, we didn’t need to hear about the first one either.

B) The Link-bot

This is the friend who does nothing but share links all day. Links to articles he’s read that he thinks the whole world should be reading, links to movie reviews, links to new games coming on the market, links to his Twitter page where he’s gone and posted 10 more links. There needs to be a limit. Some links are good, especially when they send people to this blog. But let’s impose a 2-link-max rule per day, what do you say?

C) The Groupie

This is the friend who has joined more groups than Marcia Brady did that one year in high school when she was overcommitted and frazzled. Asian Americans in Israel who Support Diplomacy with Iran? Really?

D) I Am My Kids

This is the friend who only uses Facebook to post photos of the little ones, or updates that read: “Tommy didn’t feel well today, so he stayed home from school.” Might as well not even have your own profile, just create one for the kid(s), no?

E) Spies (who used to) Like Us

This is the Ex who only friends you so s/he can spy on you and make sure you have fewer friends that s/he does, and that your new significant other is less attractive than s/he was.

F) The Wanna-Be

This is the person who friends someone with the great hope of becoming friends with that person in real life, be it a minor celeb, or just someone the Wanna-Be really admires from a slight distance.

G) The Two-facer

This is the friend who accepts your friend request just to be polite, but then Hides your updates immediately. Unfortunately, you have no idea who the two-facers are.

H) The Networker

This is the friend whose main purpose on Facebook is to build a list he can tap when he needs to for work/career. You know these friends because they only message you with e-mails that read “So you still over at Viacom?”

I) The OverPoker

No need to explain this one, right?

J) The Get-A-Lifer

This is the hardcore friend who has nothing better to do but subscribe and follow you via SMS.

K) The Attention Seeker*

This is the friend who posts status updates that are purposely vague, and therefore beg for a comment. Their status is all about getting you to respond, getting attention, getting sympathy. “Lori is scared, but hopes everything works out…” [*sent to me by my friend Dawn, who is definitely an M... see below]

L) The Over Suggester

Just stop. Okay? Let me figure out who I want to be friends with, okay? Honestly.

M) The Good Friend

This is the friend who mercifully doesn’t fit in any of the above categories and is, hopefully, just one of many normal, average facebookers you’ve friended. Let’s hear it for the Good Friend!

{Honorable mention: The Foodie — this is the friend who’s always posting updates with photos of plates of food}

{Favorite quote overheard when a friend of a Friend got a new Friend on FB — “Ah man, I’m now friends with my dad… Jesus.”}

News In Brief

Hey ! Just wanted to let you know I am back on line and in the chair again .Thank you so much for all the well wishes from everyone . I really appreciated them so much .

Even though I am just now starting to get out and about these last few,days , much has happened around the Condo recently . Many relatives came to visit , along with some friends and neighbors . It surprised me to tell you the truth . I knew that a couple of people will naturally come to visit , of course , but some of the others were a nice surprise to see . The visits were fun and so good to see different ones I hadn't seen in a while . Same thing for phone calls .

It made me realize how bad I am about these social visits . I have gotten out of the habit of visiting people these last few years . One excuse after another and I just stopped going , or calling . Now I feel so guilty that I have not keep up this nice social custom . I have made a note to myself to try to do better in the future .

While I was in Tripoli Medical Center and surrounded by all manner of student doctors , I would wonder to myself , which one of you bloggers that I know might be in a group I was watching ?How surprised you would be to know you were so close to me and not know it , lol .

I met all sorts of people in the hospital while I was there and made many a new friend too . Several nights we women wandered from ward to ward , visiting with each other . We discussed all topics we had in common and found this world to be very small indeed !I even ran into a friend who was caring for her mother in hospital , that I didn't know was there at the same time as I . Two floors up and one of Moe's Uncles was hospitalized as well , so many family members came to visit us both .

Actually the only really negative experience in the TMC I had were the bathrooms .So disgusting . The house keeping staff only came 2 times a day to clean them and no trash containers available in the bathrooms themselves . No soap either and many of the fixtures were non operating , no water , or no sanitary precautions taken for the patients .All the other moans an groans about the hospital and staff are normal ones you might find or have anywhere else in the world .

Our son and his wife stayed with us and cared for Moe and I these past 2 weeks . Haroun had his 2nd birthday party here .I am so grateful that they came and helped us out so much . I don't know what we would have done with out them .

Summer time is on it's way here in Tripoli . It is getting hotter day by day . The mosquito population is growing by leaps and bounds ! Have to close the Condo up way before sundown or else the darn things will fly off with us like the vampires they are , with us never to be seen again !

I hate the summertime here . It is just hot , humid , and buggy all summer long !!! Yucky !! Even with the air conditioner going full blast .Houston isn't much better either , but at least there you can wear " naked" clothes and no one has a heart attack ! Thank goodness I don't wear the Hajib , or I think I would just die from being smothered to death in all that fabric !

What's Going On !

The other day my good friend took pity on me and drove me to the fabric souk ( market ) here in Tripoli so I could buy some material to have clothes made . This was a tricky endeavor as the souk has moved locations several times .Not the actual soul it's self but the location where the fabric is sold has moved from place to place . I don't understand , along with most everyone else here in Tripoli , why things don't stay in one place. We aren't talking about just fabric either . Other things have a tendency to not be in the location where you bought them last .

But anyway ..... the current fabric market is in the poorer , rougher part of town that I am unfamiliar with and a chicken to drive there myself , not knowing the area well. My friend volunteered to drive me . I had asked her not just because she is a excellent driver , fearless and bold , but she could also keep me on track .

I have this problem when faced with buying material . I have had it for many years now and it used to drive my girls crazy when they had to go with me to purchase material in the past . I go into a store to look at the cloth and get caught up in another world . One in which there is sensory overload ! I see colors that dazzle me in rainbows . I feel soft , smooth , rough , bumpy , silky , satiny , hairy textures . My fingers tingle with the touch . My senses reel with the patterns that beg me to wear them . This one shouts flaunt me ! That one says remember the gown you had in these colors long ago ? This cloth promises to keep me warm in the cold winter to come . That piece says I would be so comfy as a robe , what do you think ? A cat print seductively growls , I will make a animal out of you if you take me home with you ! By the time I make it to the back of a store that sells material I am done for ! Completely confused , unable to make any rational decision at all !!! I have been known to walk out of a fabric store with some very strange purchases that never see the light of day again once I get home with them because they are sooo not what I needed or wanted in the end . But I loved them when I bought them , lol !

That's why I had my friend along . She constantly had to remind me what my mission was , what I needed to buy , and keep me moving along even when I weakened . Several times she had to physically remove me from a store with a stern reminder that I still hadn't made my main purchases yet and to keep on looking ! Now that's a good friend indeed !

In the end I did make a couple of buys that were not on any list but , then life is like that isn't it . Not all things can be planned for and a brilliant piece of cloth that begged me for a new home got lucky ! I can't wait to see how the tailor will translate these dreams into reality for me . A new dress to wear to up coming weddings after Ramadan . Haven't had one of those in many years . Then several dress slacks , along with a couple of long slinky skirts to wear when the weather turns cool again . Several blouses to go with all of those things and a house dress or two for comfort . A whole wardrobe !

After I bought all that material I came home to find my daughter had written me to say that my son in law stood in line at the post office there in the States on his day off to FINALLY mail me my packages that were to have been sent one and a half years ago . I had given up on that ever happening , hence all the cloth and plans for long needed clothes ! I am thrilled beyond words ! I appreciate his sacrificed day off to mail these boxes to me .

Way back last September I rented a post office box here in Libya so that my daughter could mail my packages to me . You may recall I mentioned the adventure here on the blog . Now what started all this P.O.Box thing was that Khadijateri was always telling me how she gets her packages from "home " from her family there in the States . I was dubious to say the least since I can remember the days before internet that it took a minimum of six to nine months just to send a letter to the States , let alone a package .But she swore she got all of her packages and I could too . I was a believer and here we are now . The packages are to arrive in Tripoli this coming Monday .Now , we will see how long it will take them to make their way to Tagura to me . And I hope all the contents are still in the boxes since things have a mysterious way of disappearing sometimes .Keep your fingers and toes all crossed for me .Eyes too if you think that will help also ! LOL !

Moe is struggling to learn all the ins and outs of the Mobile Phone world . He gets frustrated with trying to remember all the complicated steps involved to program his phone .He gets embarrassed having to ask other people for advise that he doesn't catch the first time around , or even the third time , but I encourage him to keep on trying to learn . I tell him it isn't a easy thing he is doing but I just know he can if he keeps on trying . So he gives one more try .

The first night he got the phone he left it laying on the coffee table when he went to bed early . I had stayed up to watch a late movie , when his phone rang .I was surprised , after all it was a brand new number that hadn't been used before . Moe hadn't give the number to anyone yet either . So , who could it be now ? I answered the phone because I was curious and I also didn't want the ringing phone to wake him up . I said hello and at one a.m. I heard a woman asking me who I was ! I hung up . LOL ! Then I remembered WHY I hate telephones ! LOL ! So , Moe has a girlfriend now . He thought it was so funny that his first call was a " mystery " caller ! LOL !

I got my hands on Ken Follett new book , " Pillars Of The Earth " at long last ! I have tracked it down from one person to another here . Always when I contact this friend or that friend that I heard has the book , they have already sent it on it's way to some one new . I captured it and I am planning on devouring it as soon as possible ! I think that's what I will spend this week end doing , reading it , living it , lost in that other world .

This And That

I would like to wish all mothers everywhere a Happy Mother's Day . It is Mother's day in America today. I think mothers all over the world deserve a special day today , whether or not they are in America , or Americans . Most countries have their own Mothers Day celebrations, but hey , you can NEVER tell your mom enough just how much she means to you , how you appreciate all the things she does for you and the family , right ?


Moe and I went grocery shopping the other day and I was astounded how much the price of everything has gone up ! Almost twice the average price and it is not even Ramadan !!!!We ended up paying double what our normal list of things cost us in the past .Guess we will have to start to grow our own veggies soon if this keeps up .Maybe get a cow and some chickens too ? I will be the Old Mac Donald farmer , like in the children's song before long , lol .


Today I went to Sheila to have the works .I look marvelous darlink !!!! My hair was cut and styled .I had streaks of red mixed in with the blond for fun .My toe nails are a lush pink that gives me pleasure when ever I look down upon them . My brows look like dove wings gently arched .My skin is satiny smooth from her message .Oh , Sheila , we will never let you leave us for so long again . Who else will pampers us so divinely ?


Yesterday I spent sometime with a friend that I NEVER get to see, or hardly talk to any more since she started her own business several years ago . She is always busy with her larger family or her business .It is a rare day for her to have spare time to just spend on her self .That's what made yesterday so wonderful for me , knowing that we shared that time together having so much fun . We went for a ride into the country side we both love .Then we went by to see The Wall on our land , lol . After that, we bought some sinful goodies to take to the Condo On The Sea where we had an old fashion talk-a- thong while we ate our goodies .Really a wonderful time with a great friend .It can't get better than that !Last night my daughters called to wish me a Happy Mothers day from America and completed my day !


On some of the Arabic TV channels here there is a commercial for AXE deodorant that has a English teacher teaching adults English . She is showing them pictures of different things and saying the words for them ; like cat , cow, and one is of a dog. A cute guy walks into her class and she says " Boom Chicka WOW WOW ".Her students all repeat what she says . It is so funny . Now in stores here when ever anyone wants to buy the deodorant , they don't ask for it by it's name , they ask for that" boom chicka wow wow " spray , lol ! My friend that is a English teacher says that other countries have a different version of that same phrase on their commercials too . Here is the commercial for you to watch too .Check out some of the other ones as well. Boom chicka wow wow y'all !