How to shop together when you are apart.

There is no such thing as boxing day sales, or January sales or after Christmas sales where I work. Of course I want to take advantage of these sales to get some things for our house in England but won't be home until after they end. At half price they are about regular price in Canada. The latest thing we need is a new sink and toilet for our powder room and flooring for that room and our entrance. The powder room is small, so finding a sink and toilet that will fit in there and are nice looking has been a problem. Much time spent online and ta-dah there they were. Sent the link to D so he could have a look, after some discussion we agree on what we want. So I find the nearest store to D and he went down the next morning (first guy in the shop) and bought everything we needed. It will be delievered next week and live in our garage until we are finally together to paint the bathroom and put the flooring in and the new sink and toilet. Next up D is off to look at the flooring I found, environmentally concious yet nice. Hopefully he likes it and can order it. Maybe in February when Im home we will have some time to get working on this project. Next is environmental carpet and underlay, having a hard time finding it.

Christmas

So I am not known for my Christmas spirit. I don't mind it but not my favorite holiday. I am however very against this totally over the top Christmas gift giving. I think it's a total waste of money. The gifts tend to be cheap because people have to buy so many and the gifts are mostly useless. I have a hard time being enthusiastic about the tenth bottle of bubble bath. Do you really need to give gifts to everyone and their cow. Do we do this because we feel we have to? Do we do it becuase we don't really want to spend our precious time with people so a gift assuages our guilt? I am so much happier to just get a card or an email or a phone call or some time together when im actually around then something I don't need or want. I have only given gifts this year to my mom, my nonie, my dad and my husband and that is enough.

Birthday's however are another story. I am all about the Birthday. Not just for me but for everyone.

My aching neck and fixed TV

I woke up this morning with about ten crinks in my neck. I blame the stupid square pillows in this country. You can never get them to feel right, they aren't thick enough that one feels alright but two is too much and if you try to fold it in half you end up with no pillow halfway through the night. I have looked all over this place and cannot find nice rectangular pillows. I even ordered a rectangle and got sent a square. GGGRRRR. Oh well only 43 more days and i will be sleeping in my own bed with my own 4 rectangular pillows, my own feather duvet (not crappy fake polyester) and my own husband.

I got the cable for my tv fixed today, I think the lady who cleans my room decided she needed an adapter and so she took mine. I managed to scrounge one up and now I am semi-happoly watching the Hallmark channel tonight. The Hallmark channel you say, well yes, when your choices are Russian TV, Russian TV, Russian TV, God TV, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera English, Discovery Science and Hallmark, the Hallmark channel gets alot closer to the top of the list.

Hippos

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1096345/VIDEO-Big-mamma-hippo-shows-adorable-new-calf-taking-swim.html

I like animals

Daddies

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1094977/Gay-penguins-expelled-zoo-colony-stealing-eggs-given-look-following-animal-rights-protest.html

Everyone and everything wants to be a parent.

Monkeys

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1094657/PICTURED-The-Japanese-snow-monkeys-enjoy-hot-bath.html We are so related to monkeys.

Love and Marriage

In December I will have been together with D for 3 years, offically making it the longest sexual/romantic relationship in my life. I lay it down to the fact that we are not in each others company day in and day out. In three years we have spent about 9 months physically together. The distance has made for some interesting times. When together it is very intense, short times that we try to cram lots of "normal" things into and when apart it goes back to an almost old fashioned romance where we must talk to each other and bring each other into our respective worlds through our words. Come May we will have been married for one year and out of those 52 weeks I will have spent 8 weeks in the company of my husband. At this rate it will take 6.5 years for me to have spent one year in his company. Does this mean I get to be a newlywed for 6.5 years? Does the seven year itch come after just 7 years married or 7 years together or 7 years in each others company?

A guy after my own heart

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1093618/This-field-belongs-Jim-Farmer-carves-giant-letters-snow-covered-field-slurry-spreader.html

I had to laugh. I spread so much shit on the fields in my life and always thought about what I could spell out.

Telephone

The best part of my days other than sauna, are when I get to talk to Dickie on the phone. Last night Dickie called me after his all you can eat Chinese and hanging out at the legion with the old men (maybe he is one) drinking cheap beer and playing bingo (my god I make my husband sound HOT). It was 03:00 for me. Seriously Husband three in the morning!!! I did answer him but was not really into the conversation. He told me he had moved apartments at the barracks and that the girls (our dogs Beagle and Arch) weren't happy. He then said wait a minute the girls are being awful quiet. Out to the kitchen he went and the door was open and his girls had ESCAPED into the night, it was midnight for him. I said go find dogs and goodbye. I fell asleep with a smile on my face thinking about Dickie half drunk, stuffed full of Chinese food trying to find his dogs in the pitch black of night. I love hearing about his single parent hood.

Hermy 2

Lars and Anna are pregnant again. Im very happy for them and I hope it all goes well, however it also makes me a bit sad, because as usual Im away and I will miss the pregnancy. I don't understand how people can live their whole lives away. I miss all the little things, the weekends together, the text messages, the gossip, the fights. Time for me to go home is drawing closer. I just better look at this post when im totally pissed off with being home.

Zugdidi

Spent the weekend in Zugdidi with my friend Karel who used to be with the UN mission and is now with the EU mission. The weather was so great (+20) and we walked all over the place, looking in awe at the graves made completely out of marble (enough room for a family of ten)with the best views in the city. They always have booze and food on them as well. fuck fuckfuck jesus, fucking cheap bloody UN internet. So I wrote a big long one this time and its gone thanks to the compeletely shit internet we have here.

Driving Tests

Part of my job includes drivers testing the people from all the nations that work for this mission. Yes I fail people on a regular basis. It always makes me feel rotten, even though I know it has to be done. For some of the people who come here this is a HUGE money making opportunity for them and to know that I can effectively end it for them weighs on my mind. However if I pass them and they crash a vehicle and maybe even hurt someone it will come back to me about why I passed them. I guess it's all about balance. I can effectively tell if someone will pass the test before we are even out of the parking lot, but im willing to give them a chance to change my mind. The biggest life saver is the fact I have a brake on my side of the vehicle and if I have to push it, you are FINISHED. So another day goes by and 4 pass and 2 fail.

Banya

On Monday evenings I go the Banya (Russian sauna). Me and usually around nine guys. This past monday we were sitting in the Banya and Sasha (Banya Master) came in and poured water over the rocks and then eucalyptus water. All was well for about 10 seconds until the heat hit us. Holy Crapping hell the burn. All the hairs in my nose were scorced away, my ears are still red two days later and I think my lungs are now the wrong colour. Im proud (or stupid) to say I wasnt the last person who ran for the door and the cold plunge pool. Even the Russian guys who are part of the club ran. There is such a thing as a too hot sauna.

Half a week back- eleven weeks to go.

I've been back in Abkhazia for half a week and the weather has matched my mood. Rainy and Grey. I'm sure I feel this way because it will be a long time (11 weeks) before I see D again. Today (Saturday) I am feeling a bit better and am reading a good book (The Almost Moon) and will go out for a walk if it manages not to pour rain (weather report say cloudy but not rainy). Tonight is a going away party for a bunch of military who are leaving UNOMIG, such is the nature of this place. Hopefully they will be replaced by another good group of guys to hang out with.

Chatted with Mom on the phone about everything, she is visiting LW, Lars, Anna and Rubus. LW is chatty in her own language and you can hear her in the background. She plays with her dog Rubus and annoys Mom's dog Quinn. Mom and Nonie are coming to England in May so we talked about flights and things to do. Im happy they are coming. Mom will fix up the garden for us since she has green hands (she is WAY better than a green thumb). Nice and easy day trips for Nonie so she doesnt get too tired out. D says he is moving since there will be 5 womyn in his house. Mom, Nonie, Me, Arch and Beagle, thinking I should just slip D estrogen so he can join in the fun.

The rain here is amazing, like the rain in Sierra Leone it pours down by the tanker truck full, only its alot colder. There isnt a real drainage system so the walkways and streets get flooded. I love to walk through the cold water in my flip flops. People look at me like im a weirdo (which I am), but I believe that if my bare feet get wet they will dry quickly, if I had shoes and socks on they would remain wet and damp all day and my feet would be little ice cubes.

Absense may make the heart grow fonder, but its heart breaking to be absent from the one you love.

Inspired?

I may have been inspired by Lars. I've been reading his blog www.journeytolars.blogspot.com and thought I would try my own. See how it goes and if it lasts.