Well, finally I have some time for my little spot on the web and hopefully some time to whip up some yummy looking desserts! I really missed posting about my happenings and life in general but you know how it goes, you have to take care of your responsibilities first and then you can play.

I am very happy to say that I completed my course with the end result being an “A”. Can’t get any better than that. I hope, from my example, that my daughter will try to focus more on her studies now that she see’s it is possible to do more than one thing at a time and still come out on top. I worked really hard for that grade and in the process found that I have a great interest in China.

China, as I learned, has gone through tremendous changes and until this course, I found I knew very little about it as a country. I experienced a range of emotions while taking the course and it has changed me. I often wonder why history in general is become something of the past in our nations primary schools, evidenced by the fact that when I was still living in the state of New York, my daughter would rarely have any homework regarding even US History. My father had even commented on how the days of sitting at the dinner table talking about that days events and telling past stories of how it was when he grew up or even how his dad grew up.

I really feel that understanding what a country, not just our own, had to go through to make it to where they are today is instrumental in tolerance. It’s a fact that the majority of people all around the world have the same hopes and dreams that any of us in the US have. Raise our families the best way possible and offer our children the best educations possible. Even if, at 16 years old, our children think school is a waste of time.

Opening our eyes and recognizing that people are people no matter where they come from is a step towards understanding. China is not just that place where all our things come from. This is the most common statement you will hear regarding China. In fact, beyond that and the Great Wall of China, most know little about this great Country and the long extensive history it has.

Every place has a history that is filled with negatives and positives. I appreciate what my professor brought to the table. It is very useful information that makes you think and then sort of re-evaluate things in general.

I hope to return to China in the future so that I can see the wonderful places I read and learned about thanks to this course. The Great Wall is breathtaking and the Forbidden City makes you feel transported in time. Shenzhen, while I was there, was a bustling place of business and construction projects. I found out through my course that it was one of the first places that China transformed into a “special zone” when trying to attract foreign investors. Who knew? I certainly did not.

Everyplace has some type of story to tell, well……China has a story too.

It’s sad that my course in Chinese History is ending :(. But all good things must come to an end and I have to do my final soon which means, less time on my blogs. So, I won’t be around consistently the next few weeks because I really must study.

I will be in an out but not enough time to really post much. So with that I leave you, my dear little spot on the web and hope you don’t miss me too much.

And to my fellow TWD’ers….I will miss you but I will be back in full force after I get my 100 ( I hope) on my final :o). So click the link up there already and go see how this weeks pick turned out for everyone!

So please, if you are reading this, check out the wonderful Fruit Gallette’s that the Tuesday’s with Dorie Crew has whipped up for this weeks recipe! It was specially chosen by none other than, Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs! Thank you Michelle and if I get time tonight..it’s still Tuesday somewhere in the world, I will try to make your tasty sounding selection. :o)

It’s tough going to the movies with little guys. But we made a go of it and it worked out ok until my whole soda spilled on my sons clothes…great, gotta go buy him something to wear because I did not anticipate that I would be the one to mess up his clothing lol. I even had him prepared for the ice berg theatre and had to resort to buying him a pair of shorts…and a Kung Fu Panda shirt..go figure. His other favorite movie and there were two shirts. One his size and one his little brothers size so I snatched them both and all was well in Kung Fu land. We ate ate McDonalds and I got a double treat because the Happy Meal toy was the Panda and the other toy from last week was Master Shi Fu..the one they have been begging for. Woo hoo…mommy is a hero!

Time to see the movie. Little bodies were pressed on the door waiting for the guy to unlock it and he took us in, one family at a time to ensure we sat in the right seats. The theatre was not full but if you heard these little kids…WOW you would have thought it was a packed house. Of course, my two had to be the loudest ones lol. It was funny. We had the usual popcorn and a fight broke out over sharing one so to make my life easier I just had my daughter bring back another one.

Glad I went last night it will be way way packed tonight and tomorrow because it’s the weekend.

I must say what a cute cute movie. Sort of had me thinking about our environment as well and how much we rely on conveinances to get around. I mean, it could be possible for people to become complacent to the point of not even moving out of chair and oblivious to the happenings around them that they don’t even take the time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

The movie really was great!

he was pretending to sleep lol..

MOVIE REVIEW FROM THE BOYS:

Omie stated, as we were leaving: “I just loved that guy..he was great, I love Walllllllll-Eeeeeee!”

Moe stated, as we were leaving: “I wish he could fly and I liked when he was holding hands with Eva!” (that part about Eva he whispered)

As we left the theatre and were going to wait outside, my son, Moe, asked me why two people were holding hands lol…I turned and looked and said, “Honey they are married it’s ok.” He said yeah but they are holding hands he giggled.

Right now we are in the “cootie” phase.

The only person that does not have cooties is MOMMY! Yeah I rule lol.

the infamous Wall-e!

Yes, the day has finally arrived and the countdown is complete. After a heartbreaking incident twenty three days ago the day of all days has finally arrived and my sons are bouncing off the walls, ceilings and just over joyed! We live in Beirut so the release date for us is TODAY!!

It was a few weeks ago and I was checking the times for Narnia at the local theatre. A huge picture of Wall-e was up on the site and my boys went nuts. Then when I had to tell them that it was not playing yet they were devastated. My older son Moe cried himself to sleep that night asking why they put up the picture if it’s not playing…that’s messed up he said. poor little honey.

eva and wall-e…my son likes eva!

With my idea to make a countdown, every day was one day closer to the great event. And finally, no more mornings of, “How many days now mommy?” bummer, I liked when they asked me.

So we are off today to go see this little robot movie. This time I will be prepared and put them in pants because here in Lebanon it’s wicked hot and the theatres are like Siberia..not that I have ever been to Siberia but I did here it’s super cold there.

Be back with a pictoral review of our date night at the movies!

i wonder if that is where he keeps his lunch?

photos courtesy of Empire Theatres

Several years ago my daughter apparently started calling my mother, her grandmother obviously, G- Ma. Or did my mom come up with that? I don’t know. Anyhow, my daughter was begging to call grandma and I was trying to get her to wait because of the time difference.

Since she wouldn’t be quiet about it, I caved and called. I asked my mom, ‘are you awake?’ she said well yeah, the phone woke me up lol. It was funny because later on after the boys returned from a fun filled day at the zoo, I was carrying on a conversation with myself.

My mom fell asleep while I was talking to her! I didn’t mind, but it’s funny because we visit her sometimes in the summers we will be up late and then the next day my mom will be dozing off in her chair. We start laughing because she talks in her sleep and even laughs. One time…actually several times she claims that she is not really asleep despite the snoring we hear. She tells us, she is just resting her eyes! LOL…ok ma :P. Anyhow..yesterday I took these photos for her so she could see her grand babies. I also found out that my brother has two new additions to his family…he has twin girls now for a grand total of 3 beautiful little girls. I have not seen photos yet of the new babies but hopefully soon I will get to see them. I am so happy for him but wonder how he is going to handle three proms, three weddings, boyfriends? yeah ok…on the boyfriend front I think that won’t happen lol.

So here you go Ma…the popsicle boys while I was chatting with you on the phone.

My boys are very camera shy..can’t you tell?
Special note for Daddy…’daddy, we are eating popsiciles in the salon!’ lol…

Today was the day! My curtains were finally installed and I could not be happier. After almost a year of sheets on the windows, it was a happy day in my household as we watched out windows get transformed from ewwww….too ahhhhh..!

The curtains for our room are a nice medium beige color with a beautiful sheer curtain that is a light bluish teal color. The same style is on our balcony that will soon be a nice little coffee/reading spot!

I still have to put curtains in the salon but we have to wait until the walls are repainted so for now my beautiful curtains are waiting for 1 week from now when they get to do their job and cover my windows.

For the entry way, we had to make a nice curtain since we removed the door and at my mother in laws suggestion I put a nice lacey looking curtain. I might have to have the guy make it a little thicker because you can still see through it to the bathroom..Moe doesn’t like to shut the door :).

For the little miss teenager that thinks she is all grown now, she opted for some shiny looking burgundy colored curtains with black out…black out is actually white and it blocks the sun. Her room has a huge panel of windows that go from the ceiling to the baseboard and in the summer and even some days in winter, the sun hitting directly in the room has melted several things that were not even in direct contact with the sun. That’s hot! lol. Here is her pick. She has two other windows that are actually sliding glass doors and they were covered with just the plain burgundy like what you see here. Her room used to be my balcony but since our flat is small, we converted it to a room just for her!

It was a bit hard to get nice photos inside the house because some of the fabrics were “shiny” type fabrics. Either way I am sure you get the picture lol.

For my kitchen I got some regular curtains that are machine washable which is good because my stove has to be near the window. There are some apples in a basket on the design. This was a pick by my daughter…I wanted a different one but agreed that this would also match nicely in the kitchen.

So there you have it! Who knew a post about curtains could be so long?

Well, not that Dorie lol ! The Dorie I am speaking of is a human and she has a wonderful cookbook out and I have joined the infamous group, “Tuesday’s with Dorie” so that I can bake every week. If you would like to do the same you can easily join and the only requirement is to have your own copy of her wonderful cookbook.

Out of respect for Dorie and her hard work and obvious copyright issues, we do not usually post the recipes but she does have some recipes that she has posted herself and you can find them on her website, Dorie Greenspan.

Now by clicking the photo you will be directed to Barnes and Noble. I selected them because that is usually where I purchase my books because of their reliable shipping. I live overseas and that is something extremely important to me. Of course you can purchase this book where ever you would like and I am not a paid affiliate of Barnes and Noble so the mention of them here is strictly a personal preference. :o)

Well, I am off for now. I need to check out the posts from others like me and see how their desserts turned out. If you would like to take a peek at what I made for this weeks challenge you can find it at my food blog Sweetest Somethings .

Dorie photo courtesy of Pixar Studios
Dorie Cookbook photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble

Not sure if any of you know about the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour the tour is over now but you can see the guys that did the tour. You may notice one of them from a movie..actually quite a few movies and even a couple of episodes of Law and Order.

Maz Jobrani (click his picture for a little preview) was in my daughters favorite movie, 13 Going on 30 and he is one of our favorites. This new tour he is involved in will be playing in Beirut, Lebanon the 9th and 10th of August so if you are in Beirut or maybe coming to visit you might want to check them out!

photo courtesy of Empire International

I just signed up for BIG CRUMBS. It’s an online shopping referral program that you can actually earn money through just by referring people.

I live overseas, Lebanon to be exact, and there a few comforts from home that I just can not live without and that means online shopping is my best friend.

So I read up about them and it looks pretty good. The best part? It’s absolutely free to sign up.

Let’s face it. Most of us shop online anyways so why not get a bit more of a discount and get paid for referring your friends and family.

Get started today and sign up under me by clicking that big red Join My Family button or click the BIG CRUMBS link on the right.

Well, it’s that time. I had been holding off ordering again only because I was waiting for a new batch to come out. See my other story here.

I just got my email so it is official…TCHO has launched a new batch of chocolatey goodness in their new Fruity! This time, you have 3 options for purchase but still you need to get it online. I highly recommend you give it a try and see what everyone is talking about. The do not ‘re-melt’ chocolate so this is a taste unlike that favorite chocolate bar you like to eat while reading the paper or doing that cross-word puzzle.

So why are you still reading this? Get on over there and buy a bar already! Watch yourself wait in anticipation for that little silver package to arrive like the rest of do!