uhm...what's going on?

So I am tired, acting a bit like a space cadet, zero concentration, total mistress of procrastination and hungry like a hippo (or a horse, or a...whatever, whoever animal eats the most) It is now 10am and I want lunch. oh I'm sometimes nauseous too. uh oh. I won't say it if you don't. sigh. Breath and remember the peace of the beach.

oh sowwy.

I've been really negligent here. Will be back soon. Work has been rather demanding and inspiration a bit low. Anyways, went to Malindi last weekend and it was *lovely* except for the flying a tiny plane bit. But I did enjoy the small terminal where me, hubz and the little man were the only ones in the waiting area. oh and our little bag, if that counts. peaceful airport. oxymoron?

Unauthorized Formula 1 pit crew

So last night I was going home on Uhuru Highway and the traffic started slowing down a bit. Two guys run into traffic, get in front of my car and start bumping and shaking it. I didn't even know what to think, I thought I was being carjacked or something so just blasted the horn. I am surrounded by cars and people but these guys were stealing my indicator lights! just like that! with me *in* the car! how brazen. anyway, they get it in only a few seconds and they jump over the highway divider and almost get run over by several cars. so there are two gaping holes where my indicators were. sigh.

be careful what you wish for

I was complaining about casual mondays last week...an voila, meetings scheduled today so I am back to my suited ways. And it's not too comfortable.

but sleep deprivation and a wonderful weekend make it hard to summon up the energy to do basic things...say remembering the memory card from the camera so i could show you the joys partaken during said wonderful weekend.

Friday blues and pink checkbooks

Feeling a little tired and cranky today, TGIF issues notwithstanding. that's all. oh made this lovely mocha dessert thing from the Tasty kitchen last night. lo-ve-ly.

so I went to open up a bank account and the lady immediately started selling me on a 'diva' account. I said, ok, what benefits does a DIVA account have. Bank lady: well it has many benefits but I think you'd be happy to know that, you get a pink ATM card, a pink checkbook, a pink key chain...

I signed up since I was indeed wearing the one item of pink clothing that I owned and she was smiling so sweetly thinking she got me for her diva club from the moment I walked into the bank.

oh, I called later to change the pink card/checkbook to the standard blue. didn't have the heart to do it with her face to face.

filed away

I spent my morning at Nyayo House to drop off and process an application for a national ID card. I followed signs for "Aliens" and got myself registered, finger printed (with real ink!) and was given a receipt to pick up my card in one month. The most interesting part though is that once you get fingerprinted you go to the shelf by the door to pick up a piece of cotton and then right outside the door there is an old bottle of water that is filled with benzene. You wet your cotton ball with the fuel and wipe the ink away. I was so happy to be able to clean the ink from my fingers that it didn't occur to me that I'd be smelling like bezene all day. Brilliant. Especially since I scheduled back to back meetings this afternoon. Yay me.

What an ingrate

So one of the joys of moving here was the ability to have help at home. It's just me, B (the hubby) and little dude (the little dude). But at this point our help situation is out of control as we have 4 people looking after us, if I remember my calculus right, that is more than 1 per person. There's Emme, the Nanny. Khadijah the Housekeeper. Maar the Cook and Ephrem the Driver. And I still feel frazzled and think I have too much to do, funny huh? I've totally forgotten the days when I just felt like I couldn't even catch my breath. Waking up at night to feed little man, waking up again to feed little man, fixing his breakfast, changing his nappy and getting showered/dressed for work while waiting for his baby sitter. Trying to achieve a miracle by walking out without any spit-up or food on any of my clothing. Spending the day trying to be totally a 100% there at work with only a few hours of sleep while also periodically sneaking out to another floor to feed the machine (pump breast milk) in a tiny room. oh lord, taking so many conference calls in that little room and smiling as people complained, what is that scraping sound? then the deep disappointment as I would rush home to find out that little dude is already asleep and I still have a hours of work to do from home. pumping milk while checking LBO models while I wait for him to wake up at midnight or so anyway. sigh. I don't even want to remember the traveling and pumping thing - face with the choice; 1) dump the milk (ughh, after all that pain, no way) 2)fedex the milk (did it once but it is a little stupid) 3)try to check in a tiny bag for a day trip back from Chicago (good luck with that and being mocked by everyone on your team who have no clue what you are checking in ) 4) ignore it and have milk stains all down your shirt and the pain oooh the pain. wait a minute, why did i forget all this?

ok. I am such an ingrate. life is good now. but you know what I miss? cooking. Not the prep for cooking or the cleanup...but just the joy of putting it all together and tasting it. I keep going to smitten kitchen and hitting the 'surprise me' button and dreaming what I can cook.... dammit....today is the day. I'm such a whiner, no? It's a good thing nobody reads this crap.
anyway, here's little dude jumping...trying to jump...