Snippets - 1

 

At long last, Ayman et. al. are here. It's been a long awaited visit. Here I was waiting for them anxiously at the airport. Everyone is warming up gradually. Rahimo is the one who held a strong front the longest. He would only deal with Moody, no one else. But today, the smiles and naughtiness is being spread to everyone.

Yesterday, they all accompanied me to get my treatment. I spent the whole day dozing being drugged. But for some reason I feel good today. It's true, emotional state plays a lot if fighting cancer. I noticed the day they were supposed to arrive good things have  been coming our way, including money :) I'm holding my breath for a miracle :)

Pictures I love:

Eid, Come Back!

Eid was wonderful. The kids stayed home and didn't go to school. They went to the mosque instead with Sol; their first time. I went and had coffee with Nadia and Eman. Sol had a couple of black hens roaming around him in the morning, but we managed to shush them away before noon.

The rest of the day was spent with the Kanouns. So the kids agreed to do the Toys'R'Us trip on Saturday. Happy with the iMac, I made a slideshow of the Eid, actually 2. I'll stop here as they tell the whole story.

Blame it on Nicole!

Nicole, or Jennifer officially, has been with us for years. We've probably known her for more than 5 years now. She's become part of our family, witnessed our ups and downs, cried with us, laughed with us, cared with us... You name it. She knows our friends and even family from Libya she has not met yet.

Lately, she's become the scapegoat for anything and everything that goes wrong or goes missing in the house. If Sol asks about his keys, the answer would be "Nicole must have hidden them." If I question a misplaced or disorganized thing, the answer would be "Nicole made me do it." So now I don't bother asking the kids, even on weekends, I would text or call Nicole to ask her directly. I do but jokingly, and she takes it well.

Now let's dissect Nicole a little further.

Her strongest point is finding valuable coupons and good deals. She would take the kids out for a hearty, delicious lunch for free or for $2.99 all tops! What tops that is her ability to plan activities and keep the kids busy. She is awesome when it comes to that. Very creative and talented. and does it at little cost. The outings and activities she usually plans are very educational as well as fun, to name a few, museums, baseball games, putt-putt, beach, COSI, ZOO, parks, etc.

Her weakest point is talking. She is so quiet lol Actually, "motor mouth" is a good way to describe her. Ask her a question or just say hi and you could be in a conversation that might take 20 minutes or so. Everyone that meets her, that's the first thing they notice about her. But hey, that's what makes her Nicole, right? Funny, Tala lately has been questioning my quietness as if she just noticed it. She's another motor mouth in our house. She's been asking me, "Why are you always quiet? Why don't you talk much? Are you OK? Do you have a headache?" I told her, I've always been a person with few words since my youth, but I don't think she comprehends that some people could be quiet by nature.

The kids enjoy a very unique relation with Nicole. It's a I-love-you-but-don't-love-everything-you-make-me-do kind of relation. One day they'll be pushing her to leave as soon as we come home, the other thay'll be asking if she can come on the weekend. It's like can't be with you, can't be without you kind of thing.

From our perspective whatever little organization and peace of mind we have at home we owe a big deal of it to lovely, caring Nicole! So here goes a tribute to Nicole Jennifer Briggs. (snicker)

رسائل لبابا، 5

خيرات يا بابا،

مرت فترة على آخر رسالة، ومهما كان البركة في التلفون ولكن الرسائل لها طعم آخر. في السنوات الأخيرة أصبح تمكني من الإنجليزية أحسن من العربية وأجد الكتابة بها أسلس و أسهل. ولكن أكتب هذه الرسالة بالعربي حتى تقرأها ماما أيضاً فهي لكما الإثنين.

بدأت أمس بتصفح بعض الصور من زيارتكم لنا في 2008 أنتهيت بمشروع ترتيبها في ألبوم. بدأت هذا بالبكاء لإشتياقي إليكم ولأن زيارتكم كانت مقرونة بمرضي وتلك الفترة العصيبة. ولكن بعد فترة وجيزة بدأت بالإبتسام مع كل ذكرى أو موقف تمثله هذه الصور. كان تمرين جد شيق ومشحون عاطفياً--بطريقة جميلة. أخذ من وقتي على الأقل 7 ساعات... تلهية كنت بحاجة ماسة إليها.

ثم تذكرت أنكم لم تأخذوا معكم أي صور، وخطر لي حينها أن زيارتكم مربوطة في ذهنكم أيضاً بتلك الفترة العصيبة، صورة تطغى على ما كان جميل فيها. لذا قررت أن أرتب كل الصور في ألبوم وأبعثها لكم، حتى تعوا ما أثر زيارتكم لنا في حياتنا وكم كانت مهمة وثرية بذكريات لا تعوض ولا يجب أن تنسى أو تحجب. صورجميلة للحظات أجمل. كفاية جمعتنا على مائدة العشاء التي كانت بالكاد تسعنا وتسع مالذ وطاب من إيدين ماما، الله ما يحرمنا منها ولا من إيديها ولا من نفسها الطيب في الطبخ. وكذلك سهرتنا على الشاهي ولعب الورق وغيرها مع الأحفاد.

ختاماً، ترقبوا الألبوم وتأكدوا أنه سيجلب لكم الفرحة والبهجة والسرور... وراحة البال والهناء. وكما أتمنى أن يكون حافز لتعيدوا الكرة.

والسلام للجميع،
هنو
13سبتمبر، 2010

Sweet Loli, Sweet Life!

Last week Tala started talking about having a slumber party for her birthday on Friday the 3rd. Finally I made the invitations using her picture with the hibiscus flowers for the card. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, I called Sheri from Delicacies by Sheri and shared the card with her for ideas on cupcakes instead of a cake. She suggested to make hibiscus flower cup cakes and some iced cookies. On Friday, I went to the party store to get some goodies and decorations. Guess what! I found a whole theme of hibiscus flower. Lucky Loli; that was not even planned.

She invited 5 girls; 4 showed up. They had fun. We watched Camp Rock 2. All 5 of us girls cramped on the sofa! And when the song "It's On" started, all girls and Moody stood in front of the TV singing along and dancing along. It was amazing; they knew all the lyrics and the dance moves... Kids of the 3rd millennium!

After the movie, they decided to have a round of nail polishing. And I joined them :) I have one hand silver, the other glittery pink, one foot red, the other glittery burgundy. When they had their fill of that, we went back to the basement and watched Princess Diaries. I went to bed at around midnight and woke up later after 2 am to find them still chattering and playing in the basement. The girls liked having Moody around. Well, they know him from school. They kept saying that he made the party more fun!

On Thursday, I went for my 3rd round of chemo. It did affect me terribly this time. My fingers get numb, even my throat does when I have a cold drink. I was drowsy, disoriented and hated it. The doc switched me from Zoloft to another anti depressant that has dual action. It treats depression and helps with the early onset of menopause caused by chemo.

Friday morning I took the kids to the bus stop. That made them and me happy. It's a new year. I'm impressed with Tala and her organization of her school belongings. And Moody is on top with his homework and doing well. I hope they keep it up the whole year.

When is it going to be Wednesday?!