Too long, once again.... just deal with it, SteppeSister, you're only going to be able to post once a week at best! Ahhh well, good intentions.

No real news here, except The Water Guy built me a (very) small green house from some old windows. and of his own accord planted some chard and lettuce in it! Woohoo! Maybe in a few weeks we can eat green again. :)

The other news is that we are once again in packing mode for our trip to Dubai next week. It is such a chore finding all of our summer clothes out in the shed, bringing in the boxes, making sure I put them away clean (which I'm known to blow off occassionally), finding appropriate bags (which we are majorly lacking!), and coodinating matching outfits. I do my best, but meh! Of course, NariLoo has grown a bit, and now needs a little blouse as a cover for her sleeveless dresses (no sleeveless there, for sure!), but alas, I'm sure they will not have such items in the bazaar this early in the season. Shoes, let's not even go there. Shoes only last 1! season here, then they are shot. Our last year's sandals are shoddy beyond belief, so hmmm... another dilemma for Super Mom to ponder at night.

Our power continues to be a bane in my bright outlook. Off everday from 9:30 until about 6:30 each day, although we did have a break of that nonsense over the weekend. And today, it didn't go off until about 12:30, which allowed a washing of some previously mentioned clothes for packing. Oh yes, and the other BIG deal news is that the vacuum cleaner belts that I had ordered and had sent arrived!!! Yeah, baby, my rugs are clean of crumbs once again. But alas, no matter how careful we were with crumbs, the ants found their way in and now we are inundated!! No, I don't mean like we have a few ants! They are EVERYWHERE!!!!! You know that saying, "Do you have ants in your pants?" Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do! Thank you very much!

A discourse on ants:

There are two types of offending creatures in our home. The little black ones that are hard to see, and the great big, monstrous beasts with wings. Can you guess which ones can make you scratch your hiney for a week?? Yep, you win! Those little nasty ones that when you squish them between your fingers make a wretched smell of formic acid linger for an hour. It does keep one from picking their nose for a time- one good point, I guess. Nariloo has found it great fun to collect the big ones with wings in a jar and watch them dig. She is driven to distraction, though, as they eat their own wings when they fall off, and they won't drink from the bottle cap of water she put in there for them. As I reach for my crystal ball, I see serious interrment ceremonies in her near future. I think matchboxes will work great, don't you? It is amazing how a vacuum cleaner can help control the pest population, and I am very thankful for modern inventions such as these. Next, I will work on a coffee maker that won't burn my coffee after keeping it (too) hot for an hour. Hey, wait, maybe I could just set out the burnt coffee for the ants to drown in?

Back to my bagel making bonanza,

Your SteppeSister