Silver Sunday

I hope that everyone is having a relaxing and enjoyable Sunday. Beth at Gypsy Fish is having a Silver Sunday blog party and although I haven't officially joined the party, I thought I would post some silver for today. Maybe, just maybe, next week I'll join the party for real.

A silver jar with lid next to a silver framed photo of my husband's great grandfather.

An unusual purchase from an Indian antiques shop.

A silver tray that sits on a wooden pededstal. The silver framed piece is a joke that a friend gave me. It shows a man who is new to Kuwait and with each passing year, he begins to morph into a camel so that by the time 10 years rolls around, he's totally converted. I think it's funny; my husband doesn't. I've been a camel for 5 years now.

Yesterday was my marathon cleaning spree and boy, do I feel like I ran a marathon. All kinds of muscle aches and pains today. It must be from moving all the furniture in the living room around. I'm always happy when I change things up a bit.

And it probably didn't help that I climbed a ladder and cleaned everything on top of all the cupboards in the kitchen and made room for all my new enamelware.

The kids were banned to their bedroom while I did all the cleaning. They found an old puzzle that my girlfriend had given us oh so many years ago. It's of her son, Andrew, who is now in college, and Yusef when he was about 9 months old. It took awhile, but the boys managed to put it together and I had some puzzle saver glue that I bought years and years ago and never used, so it was put to use yesterday. Now we can get the puzzle framed. I can't believe that 13 years later, we still have all the pieces. Yusef used to play with it when he was little and would scatter them everywhere.


Thursday evening, I finished the trellis scarf that I started the previous week. I've put it here with a brown sweater and old purple and gold broach. I'm happy with the results since it was my first attempt with a new pattern. I will do another in black as it will go with more outfits.

We were back at school today and I must go iron clothes and get uniforms ready for the kids. Wishing you much peace and warmth as your weekend draws to a close. Have a great Monday! Blessings, Tammy

Sightseeing Saturday

Greetings and welcome to another Sightseeing Saturday. As promised, Jerash in Jordan is our next advenure.

"Dubbed the "Pompeii of the East," Jerash is a Greco-Roman ruined city located 80 miles north of Amman. The impressive, beautifully preserved ruins of Jerash include places of worship and other buildings from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and early Muslim periods."








"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past." Edward Gibbon

Friday Market

Today was a beautiful day with mild temperatures, blue skies and sunshine. We dropped Zack at the field for baseball practice this morning and then headed over to "Souk al Jumaa" or the Friday Market. There was a nice display of the past that an older Kuwaiti gentleman put together. Sam said there was a write-up in the paper about it.




And, of course, there was shopping ... and buying!




I want to brighten up my kitchen so these tin items will do the trick. Tomorrow will require a lot of cleaning and organizing as not much of that got done today.

We met friends for lunch. This restaurant doesn't look like much. Only 4 tables in the place, but we had to wait 45 minutes to be seated and there was a waiting list after us. Yummy Thai food!

Another little shopping trip where I picked up this trunk I saw last week, and then we came home. I cleaned a little, very little. We walked and now it is nearing bedtime so tomorrow will be a marathon cleaning day.

I hope that all of you will have a warm and wonderful weekend! Peace & blessings, Tammy

Thankful Thursday

Hello again! Only a 4-day week and the weekend is already here. I am so thankful! One of my first tasks this afternoon was getting the Christmas tree and decorations all packed away. After moving stuff around in December to have room for the tree, there is now an empty space that needs something. Tomorrow, we shop!

One of the ornaments I put away is a Hallmark Keepsake Ornament from 2000 -- Father Time with Baby New Year. The whole world went a little berserk when that year rolled around -- and look at us now, ringing in 2010.


My how time flies! These ornaments are special because they were made by the boys. Yusef painted the ornament on the left in 1999 when he was 4 and Zack painted the one on the right in 2002, also age 4.

Now everything is put away. Tomorrow, I clean!

We had some very grateful parents send several very large bouquets of flowers to the front office. They just brought their elementary child back to school after a long absence due to heart surgery. I was able to bring home some of the blooms today and placed them around the living and dining room.



"Grow flowers of gratitude in the soil of prayer." ~Verbena Woods

I'm hoping these branches will last for some time. The florist glued orchid blooms to them, which seems wasteful as orchids are so beautiful and should just be left to bloom as they are, but I love the branches. I want to add more natural elements to my decor in this New Year.

So far tomorrow's agenda includes shopping and cleaning. Zack has baseball practice in the morning and we will head over to the Friday Souk (which is like a big flea market), plus we are going out for Thai food with friends. Weather has been good so should be a wonderful day! I love the weekends. Wishing you all a day of joy! Peace & blessings, Tammy

Tuesday Tidings

"If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth." (Mitsugi Saotome)

It always takes me a few days to get back into the swing of things. We had two and a half weeks off from school and it was glorious. Now I have to fit the every day of life into the hours of the days that I am given. Not always an easy task and some times I look at the clock and think "where did the time go"? Now it is time to hit the hay as tomorrow is another day. Hope that you are finding time to do all that your heart desires. Peace & blessings, Tammy

Monday Blues

Well, today it was back to school for me and the kids. A few minutes into our morning drive and a bus decided to play bumper cars with us.

It's like I'm the flame and all the drivers out there are the moths. My car has been dented, scraped, bumped and banged more times than I can count. I never had this problem in the States. Some days I just want to sit on a bench and watch the world go by.

Jingles just doesn't know what an easy life she has.

Especially when lots of kitties have to live in the streets. It is a real problem in this country. Someone takes a kitten home because they think it is cute, but as it gets older, they put it out and so the cycle begins. Cats running the streets like mice do in the cities. I keep food and containers in my car and feed them as I am able.



Zack had baseball practice after school. At least my car wasn't slammed in a way that made it undrivable. I don't know what I would do without my car.

Today is Sam's 51st birthday. He doesn't really like to celebrate them but I gave him a turtleneck and 2010 edition of the Guiness Book of World Records. For dinner I baked fresh salmon, made potatoes, broccoli and a tomato & cilantro salad. Brownies for dessert.

(The picture above is from our lunch out on Saturday and that is not the turtleneck he got this evening.) He was a little uptight about the accident, but I put things in perspective. Would you rather have a crushed car or crushed kids? Honestly, it could have been much worse. We had a nice walk this evening. The weather is good and we have the most amazing sunsets lately.

"Life is a train of moods like a string of beads; and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Tomorrow is another day! Hopefully a quiet and uneventful one. Peace & blessings, Tammy

Sightseeing Saturday

Our next adventure while in Jordan was a visit to the Dead Sea. On this day, I was only the photographer since I did not think to bring a swimsuit with me.

The Dead Sea is considered one of most amazing places in the world. The valley at the Dead Sea is over 400 feet below sea level, the lowest point on the face of the earth. Once the Jordan River and other rivers flow into the Dead Sea, they are land-locked and have nowehere to go. "They evaporate, leaving behind a dense, rich, cocktail of salts and minerals that supply industry, agriculture and medicine with some of its finest products."

"The Dead Sea is flanked by mountains to the east and the rolling hills of Jerusalem to the west, giving it an almost other-worldly beauty. Although sparsely populated and serenely quiet now, the area is believed to have been home to five Biblical cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Adman, Zebouin and Zoar."

"The leading attraction at the Dead Sea is the warm, soothing, super salty water itself - some ten times saltier than sea water, and rich in chloride salts of magnesium, sodium, potassium, bromine and several others. The unusually warm , incredibly buoyant and mineral-rich waters have attracted visitors since ancient times, including King Herod the Great and the beautiful Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. All of whom have luxuriated in the Dead Sea's rich, black sun, stimulating mud and floated effortlessly on their backs while soaking up the water's healthy minerals along with the gently diffused rays of the Jordanian."

So much for history and the medicinal, holistic benefits of the Dead Sea. My kids said that the salty water burned, everywhere, so they spent the rest of the day at the pool.

At least we can say we've been there. Next week, we visit the Roman city of Jerash in Jordan. It's an amazing place!

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Wishing you a wonderful day full of peace and beauty! Blessings, Tammy

Time in a Bottle

"Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life."

One of my favorite songs growing up was "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. No matter how much time passes, it's a song that I always remember the words to.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
Till Eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

In this New Year, I intend to use my time more wisely; to make every minute count; to accomplish something every day whether it be creative or organizational; to give of my time to help another.


"The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains." ~ Marcel Proust

Wishing you much happiness and time for all that is important to you. Peace & blessings, Tammy