Remember This Guy??

Sri, he was my hero for an entire week last year when he caught the birds that were loose in our house..Remember that? It was last March and I came home and thought someone was in the house because I could hear weird stuff upstairs. When I went upstairs to check it out, I interrupted a bird party going on in Sam's room. They, of course, were surprised by me so flew into my face. Sri came and caught the birds and gently set them free to resume their lives OUTSIDE our home.

Mr. Sri just got back from Sri Lanka where he went to visit his family 8 weeks ago. If you can believe it, it was the 1st time in 4 years he has seen his wife and 4 kids.

(Now I feel like a real baby for feeling lonely with Brad gone for 2 nights.)

I asked him about his trip and he couldn't stop smiling. He was grinning from ear to ear speaking in his broken English about his healthy and happy family back home and the good food he had..(he rubbed his tummy). He even smiled through the part about not going back again now for 4 MORE YEARS. I made a sad face and he was quick to console me..He said, "It's OK madame..It's too difficult for money if I go more." People like Sri I will really miss when we leave this place. I love the constant reality checks that slap me upside the head and let me know how good life is to me and my family. My little problems seem soooo insignificant.

Sri is my hero again this week...minus the birds!

A Lot Going On In My Little Brain

Is it just me?..I know I have a problem with keeping things neat and organized.

I close my eyes and try to channel my good friend and PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER Vicki Winterton in Provo.

Any solutions for this one Vicki?

Lately, I am more acutely aware of little things that are adding little bits of stress to my day...Such as: Containers and lids that have lost their spouses..single socks...a small Hello Kitty pencil sharpener that keeps falling into my bathroom sink when I brush my teeth and I just keep absent-mindedly putting back up on the edge of the sink. Does anyone else carry these pitiful burdens around, getting grumpy, sweating the small stuff?

(My version of speed-dating for lids and containers as I make lunches early in the a.m. Please notice the environmentally conscious jute bag I keep them all in. Is my insanity bad for the environment?)

My instincts tell me to just throw all of it in the garbage..get it out of my home and off my mind. Then I remember the reason I bought the containers with their lids was to eliminate zip-lock bags from our lives because that's NOT ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND. Throwing away bigger, more imposing pieces of plastic that will then need to be replaced by something else to hold the kid's sandwiches, etc..doesn't make any sense at all.

Anyone else getting stressed out by this?

Then, the single socks..well, there is an abundance of them around now because cute little Charlie wears only 1 sock everyday to school..How do I solve that. I don't for another 5 weeks, then maybe I throw away the single socks..what a waste. Then, the pencil sharpener. I know now, as write this, that I should just go find a place to put it. But when I'm brushing my teeth I'm not thinking of putting away a pencil sharpener that somehow wound up on my bathroom sink. I'm thinking of either:

a) getting to bed

or

b) getting into Big Red to get the kids to school on time

..Now, I think I will go upstairs and toss out that sharpener.

Where do things like that come from? And, how do they get into my bathroom?

Jack the sicko..Jack Heely'd around with me for two days because he had a terrible fever and cough that reared its ugly head on Saturday night. So, Sunday, no school, Monday no school. He is really an easy sick person because when he's sick..he just wants to lay around and when he's well he wants to be on the move. He loved using those Heely's in Spinneys. The tile floors with no carpets to interrupt long glides were his idea of paradise. Then he saw his favorite yogurt and muesli on the salad bar and life was good to old Jack-a-Roo. We came home, Mom napped, and Jack watched Clone Wars.

(Good indication that Jack is back in the pink and my life is quiet today.)

The Cooks at Atlantis..again. I love that place. (Picture from our time in Dubai with Joleen) Brad, Dr. Hotpants, is off on a solitary pilgrimage to Salalah, Oman. He has always wanted to go there. It is likely the place where the Land of Bountiful was during Book of Mormon times. I totally encouraged him to go and check it off of his list of things to do before we leave this region. While I would have loved to join him (because I never want him to go and have fun without me) their were 4 young reasons I felt I was needed back in Abu Dhabi. So, the kids and I have been lonely for Brad since Sunday afternoon when the driver picked him up to take him to the airport in Dubai. Lucky for me and Jack, Brad spent the morning at home, taking his time packing and getting ready to go and hanging out with us. In Dubai he was able to see Sargon and Habib, in town from Kabul, so his life is quite charmed, wouldn't you say?

He gets home tonight and we are so happy.

Can't wait to:

1st: Give big hug and let him know how much we missed him

2nd: Hear about his adventures

3rd: Have him around to keep things balanced