Birthday bananza!

Last week I finished marking up my calender for the month of January...and I couldn't believe how many friends and family members will celebrate birthdays this month...so here are a few shout outs to my fellow b-day peeps!

 Grandma Papps :) she will turn 88 on January 20th...I would like to point out that this picture was taken on Grandma's 85th birthday...I know the candles are ghetto and there are 5 single candles lit to represent 80 + 5 yrs...hopefully grandma gets legit b-day candles this year :)

 On the 23rd I share a birthday with this little cutie....

and this grown up cutie ;)

...Warmest Birthday wishes and shout outs to all my January b-day pals (I will spare listing your name, date of birth and age)...and the only reason you are not pictured in the post is because I couldn't find pictures of y'all sitting in my lap in order to match the 'theme'

..."those who live in concrete houses"...

are probably as cold as those who live in glass houses in the winter time...because both building materials do not insulate.

7 year itch...

for a new computer.
The old one is barely holding on...

This week Z was traveling and took the newer laptop so I had to go to the recesses of my closet and dig this jalopy out. A hing is broken, buttons are dismembered and wiring is exposed...It is a wonder I didn't shock myself when I went to turn it on.

Welcome 2011!!!

This year I have a few goals for myself...these goals are merely being implemented in efforts to make 2011 better than 2010...which there was nothing wrong with 2010, but there is always room for improvement...

• #1: I vow to never run out of coffee in 2011...we ran out for about a month and a half in 2010 and it was scary!
• Goal #2: when temperatures are above the high 90's I will only run the AC at night time...that way I can build up my heat tolerance and save money on our electricity.
• #3: Read all 106 books that I downloaded onto my Kindle...and in conjunction with this goal; watch less movies
• Eat more tofu :)
• and the last and very important goal = See E and Ray Ray!

Have a great 2011 Everybody...

or else!

'Tommy' the Tom cat

Our new house has a previous tenant that still resides in the upstairs portion of the house. It is a Tom Cat that is the size of a bobcat! (not exaggerating this time, cross my heart) nor I have ever seen a cat this large in these parts before. Most time when I see Tommy he is scaling our upstairs balcony with a dead rodent in his jaw...and then I wonder 'where was Tommy when we were dealing with that pesky Asian house shrew?'
The night before last Tommy came downstairs...we were asleep and there was full bags of trash in the garage/patio trash bins. while I was in a dead sleep, Z heard Tommy rustling the bins trying to get in our trash so he banged on the window and scared him away...a few minutes later Tommy came back and Z again banged on window and this time Tommy was gone for about ten minutes before returning...when Z heard rustling again this time he got half dressed, grabbed one of his flip flops, ran out the door towards the cat...Z blocked Tommy's escape towards the gate and so the cat darted for the stairs, Z ran after the cat and threw his flip flop at Tommy while the cat was running up the stairs...Z missed the cat with the flip flop missile but apparently it scared Tommy enough that the rest of the night no more attempts were made to acquire the tasty treat of our garbage.
I was not a witness to the scene...and I still do not know why I did not wake up because I usually am a light sleeper...I would have loved to see the incident first hand!

Day after Christmas...

Formerly known as 'Boxing day' in old British English (maybe they still call it that in modern British English as well...) Z and I planned to set this day aside for us to have our own little Christmas where were would eat American holiday food and unwrap gifts. We went to bed at 2am on the 25th/26th...when our last party guest left at 11:45pm we immediately jumped on skype to talk to our families while it was still Christmas day for them. Anyways so 2am on 12-26 my head hit the pillow and I was so exhausted and so happy that I could finally sleep as long as possible...but my sleeping plans were interrupted by an upset stomach - I am sorry to have to mention these things on a very public website - I was up all night vomiting! I haven't had stomach problems for about a year now so of course mentally I went into a hypochondriac state and thought I was dying...whatever was making my tummy upset was also causing delusions. Z being the wonderful hubby he is, got up several times through the night to bring me water, pepto and the most important item...mouthwash. I finally fell asleep around 6am and didn't wake up until noon.
When I awoke it was time to open presents...Z had been anticipating our present exchange all morning but patiently let me sleep. We decided to open the presents that some of our Curry Land friends gave us first...pictured below is what we got:

I am not sure what Muslim monument this is...but we are now the proud owner of a its miniature replica...

oh and it has a creepy red light that lights up in the inside, which I would show pictured but for some reason the light has stopped working in it today.

Another friend gave us this vase, it kind of reminds me of a vase my grandma had in Fl around the early 90's...so needless to say I fell in love with it right away, Z however does not share my enthusiasm. 

Z and I then exchanged our gifts for each other...just to let you know I did finally buy Z presents; scissors that were manufactured in our city (apparently our city is famous for these scissors) and an Atlas...for some reason Z wanted an Atlas. I will also get Z a new phone when we go to Curry Land #2 in February...the one that fell in the river is done.

Z got me a KINDLE!!!! Woo hooo!!!

My new best friend :) - please disregard the pale gaunt woman in the photo

The rest of the day I witnessed Z ingest 1/2 a gallon of eggnog, 14 Christmas cookies, one piece of Christmas birthday cake, 10 Swedish meatballs, and half of a cheese ball... I ate crackers and water :(

not a white, nor a blue...but deffinitely a strange Christmas

I don't know why I was expecting a normal Christmas day...no day is ever normal over here :)

• On Christmas Eve we were heading to a friend's house for a party...I spotted a teenager on the back of a motorcycle dressed up like Santa... full red suit and had one of those creepy Santa/Chucky masks on (shudder). He also had a banner attached to the back of his suit 'Neha's Sarees'
• Christmas morning we awoke to loud drums and awful singing outside of our house...I 'tore open the shutters and threw up the sash' and saw the hidjera (a clan of hermaphrodites dressed as women)outside our house singing and dancing.
• The entire day we were in full party preparation because we were hosting a Christmas event on our roof/balcony for our friends...I had one last item to cook...the cake - for some reason people in Curry Land associate Christmas with cake...but not fruit cake, more like a white frosted birthday cake. I mean it makes sense, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus so why not make a birthday cake. But I have to admit I have never ever made a birthday cake before...in America I usually just bought them from Publix (oh so tasty!) not to mention I have never done this sort of thing on Christmas day.
• When our guests started to arrive again we heard loud drums outside our house...we looked down from our roof/balcony to see a wedding procession which included drummers drumming and ladies dancing...I have to admit it made me think of the 12 days of Christmas song :)
• After the 12 days of Christmas song reenactment outside my Christmas started to get a little more normal...we spent the rest of the evening with close friends, watched a film about the meaning of Christmas, completely stuffed ourselves with very delicious food and deserts, exchanged gifts, and took pictures in front of our Christmas tree.

The cake masterpiece...a friend that does henna designs did the decorating

No one smiles in pictures here...but I swear they are happy and having a good time at our party

yay! there's a little bit of a smile :)

Rabbit ears - hehehe

Happy Holidays from Z and me!