My day......

Sometimes I think I need to have had a huge thing happen to post something on my blog. Since it's been awhile and I'm getting complaints, I'll just tell you about my day! Woke up at 4:45 when the alarm rang the first time. Yelled at Whitney from my bed to start waking up. (her biggest pet peeve about me, but then again, she could set her own alarm, right??) Her ride to seminary didn't come so I get up and bring her. Come back and wake up Evan, put on some laundry, then go back and pick up Whit. Get them both out the door at around 7:00. Evan's school is very close so he walks and Whitney gets picked up on the bus. (don't make the mistake of picturing a yellow school bus.....oh, no! It's the big charter Aramco bus that brings her to Dhahran Acadamy every day- so funny and random). I consider going to get my walking done but then reconsider and decide to shop. There is a bus that goes by Ikea every morning at 9:00 so I go get on it. (same type of Aramco bus that Whitney rides to school). Ikea doesn't open until 9:30 so I walk over to Jarrir's (the Saudi version of Books-a-Million) and browse around. I think about how lucky I was last week to find tons of nearly new books at the Women's Exchange for almost nothing. The Women's Exchange is just a shop that sells what people don't want anymore. I don't buy anything and head over to Ikea next door. Realize that the doors open at 9:30 but the store isn't open until 10:00 so I go in the cafe and get an omelette and juice. I had wanted to come to Ikea because I have a little guest bathroom in the front of the house that has just been plain and empty, and I needed to get it "guest-worthy". I found the cutest stuff. I bought a big picture of like an orange gerber daisy. It's on a teal background. So I bought a glass frame with the silver clips (frameless) to put it in and an teal rug. Then I bought an orange towel and a teal hand towel. It is SO cute in there. Maybe I'll put up a picture. Now if only a guest would need to use the bathroom!! I'll keep my fingers crossed.... I browse around looking for a little something for the counter but didn't find the right thing. Got back on the bus about 11:30 and came back. Evan was home for lunch. He was at the computer writing yet another song. Who knew that Evan is now a song-writer??? He is writing one after another and some are quite good. After he went back to school I set out to run some errands. First the gas station. I mean "the" gas station- the only one on the compound. But here's the great thing. I was on dead empty and I filled up the huge Ford Expedition and the guy says that will be 45. Ok, not dollars (because even that would be great), but Saudi riyals. The rate is 3.74 so I filled up for the equivalent of just about $12!! Then it was onto the dry cleaners. You're gonna be envious of this, too. I brought one dress to be dry-cleaned and four of Brad's shirts to be pressed and starched. The bill was 11 sr, or about $2.94! Some people complain that some groceries are more expensive but please! It's so overboard in our favor that I'll never complain about paying for American cereal! (sometimes the Kellogg's is almost $9 a box, but sometimes some kinds are cheaper, you just never can tell) That reminds me that I should do a post of the cost of things in comparison. Sometimes I even forget how much stuff was at home. Went to the atm, to check the mail and to the commisary (grocery store). The stew meat looked delicious so I decided to make beef-tip type stuff with rice and gravy. It's smelling good now. The kids both trickled in from school. I think Whitney fell asleep and Evan is watching some tv. Brad just got home, too. (he also rides the twice- before- mentioned infamous Aramco bus home from RT everyday). Need to put the rice on, get the family fed then on to homework. Hopefully Whitney will have time to go to the walking trail with me this evening. I feel like this is really a post about nothing, but hey, sometimes that's just my life!