One minute I was in Virginia, enjoying the breathtakingly beautiful skies, the refreshing lush greenery, walking down the aisles of Target with a macchiato in hand and the next, I had returned to the Doha sandpit where temperatures were a miserable 110F with dust, massive construction zones and the never-ending quest to find good tasting fresh milk.
(Left) Great Falls, VA (Right) Doha, Qatar
Photo Prompt: Louise with The Storyteller’s Abode
Saturday afternoons for Edward meant taking his boat out to the island. He had bought this small piece of land as a wedding present for his wife 15 years ago.
Can we please start our summer holidays?
We are finally in the last week of school. Having been through rigorous exams, science projects, and copious amounts of homework, I can’t tell you how ready we are for the summer holidays to roll around. No alarms, no pick ups or drop offs and no after school activities – there are just no words to describe the joy and elation that transcends us.
When my kids were toddlers, we did quite a bit of traveling with them. We were brave. It took quite a bit of planning, and had it’s moments of stressful diaper changes in public restrooms and tantrums mid flight. My kids are now pre-teens, but summer travel has presented itself with a different set of challenges. So to those of you who think, it gets easier, once the kids are older – let me shatter that for you!
I have always enjoyed running. I love to be able to say ‘I’m a runner’. It has a certain ring to it. That being said, I have never competed in a 3K, 5K or even a fun run. Ever. So I am not sure that qualifies me to be a ‘runner’? Add to that, the fact that I run incomparably slower than my kids, who are 10 and 12. But I still run. Unfortunately, consistency has never been my strong suit, so I run off and on, but these days it is back ‘on’. So perhaps I am an occasional runner?
Mother’s day: The Expat Dilemma
Which day should I really celebrate ‘Mother’s Day’? (I mean who are we kidding – we all know, Mother’s Day should technically be celebrated everyday!). But I think to make things easier for the family, I should choose just one day out of the entire year! (Ridiculous. I know.)
Fidget Spinners – Image by Shutterstock
With two pre-teens in the house, I witness my fair share of the latest craze making the rounds these days. We went through the Loom Bands phase, weaving one colorful rubber band through the other which I must admit was oddly satisfying!
After this we went through many weeks of the annoying bottle flipping phase.
Next up, was attempting to make home-made slime . Seriously we made slime We went through all our Elmer’s glue (essentially bought for school) and many, many boxes of cornstarch for ‘slime’.
And now, like many others, we are constantly spinning Fidget Spinners. In the car and at home, we have them with us.
Loom bands to Slime to Fidget spinners
Keeping dentist appointments, signing permission slips, remembering ‘Viking’ dress up day (why do they have Viking day anyway?), ensuring homework is completed and managing the daunting after school club schedule – are just a few ‘anxiety prone’ tasks, us moms need to plan out in our heads before going to bed on a weeknight.
For expat moms (or mums for my British readers), it is somewhat trickier. They have the usual plethora of tasks to think about, and then there are ‘things’ that pop up in your head because you have chosen the so-called ‘glorious expat adventure’. As an expat parent, these are the thoughts that I contemplate while laying in bed, miserably trying to fall asleep. Continue reading
an introverted blogger 