fam 1st weekend drive

Rented a toyota yaris for a month. soon after, drove to car showrooms, talking with salesmen, requested for quotes and were advised to wait for the ramadan special offers. more time to think and decide plus the freebies to be offered. then off to our weekly grocery, tried a new store (sultan center) then went home. next day, we went to check out some more cars but they were closed, friday is sunday mood here. we just went to homecenter going around killing time (as expected actually bought some stuff) waiting to go to church, but bong got a call from a customer and worked for a while (window shopping cut short). was ok, viv & i waited in the car while bong worked, playing..and reading. we still managed to attend mass (first time together) at the Ruwi Catholic church then had dinner in one of our fav restos - turkish house.

touchdown!!!

...finally...finally...finally...
after perspiring and sweating...
after all the needless taxi driver haggling...
after all the road sessions...
after all the exams...

finally.....I have my license and I am back on road!!! mwahahaha!
time now to scout for a car to buy...

domestic goddess

chatting with my friend for an hour, realized that i was talking about how amazing the whirlpool washing machine is, just put the clothes after an hour or so, done! usually do it twice a week and pressing with the steam iron once a week, which by the way came free with the black & decker microwave oven. surely B&D increased their sales, adding two more of their items, a vacuum cleaner 99% dust free and a 1.9L rice cooker guaranteed no burned rice. remember when i arrived, the first appliance we bought was ariston gas stove oven, good thing i brought all my cook books and magazines. so satisfying for me to look at them enjoy munching every home made meal i prepared. can't wait to have one important thing .... will let you know when i have it.

home office

Got our computer table and chair, so neat, pretty and comfy, now you can imagine when i chat and browse.

toy named PCthess... connecting

July 9, Omantel called to install our DSL, thanks to "kababayan" who accomodated us after following up a local for 2 months. immediately called hubby who was in Dubai for a training. Following thursday, (yes he arrived wed nyt), went to emax the biggest electronics store and bought an intel core2duo 1.8ghz, 1GBDDR2 ram and 17" LG flatron, earlier than planned ...also bought an office/computer table and chair (still waiting delivery on the 24th). thanks hubby...one more thanks for setting it up. sigh... after 3weeks, i'm back.

did i mention on that same day i also got my resident card, now i'm in oman's file record as an expat's wife =)

viv's first plane ride update

now, we can finally get the pics uploaded...made a post last time on this but here are some pics. the wifey tells me she was very well behaved the entire trip. when she first stepped into the plane, she just saying 'wow mom, this is great!' Just feel a bid sad I missed one of her 'firsts'...but am just happy all was safe and exciting for her.

getting back in the groove...

after almost a month now, the family is starting to get back into a normalized (sans private transportation) groove. the apartment is starting to fill-up... still very spacious which is great.

the TV (slash entertainment room) and 'office area' has been established. We now have DSL from the local (one and only) provider and a new PC (for the wifey). People who know me would assume that the office/entertainment room would be the highlight for me... but no, top of my list would be the dining area. I was so ecstatic to have our dining table set up...coz for the past three months, mostly, I'd been having meals on the kitchen counter. now , I get sit down and eat a great, freshly-made, home cooked meal. I just feel so blessed right now.

now...the bedroom may be the last on my list of updates, but its definitely not the least. I missed our bed back home but this one is surely making up for it.

our first family movie was a couple of weekends ago... Transformers!! was my first time inside a local cinema (Al Shatti Plaza) so it was special coz the family experience it together.

more updates to come... :0)

first down

...got past the first driving exam hurdle this morning...big sigh of relief. one more to go...crossing fingers.

V's first plane ride

she took her first plane last 19th...and yes, my family is now here at long last. this was actually her 3rd plane ride already but she was too young to remember the first two. sad part about it is I wasn't a part of that experience of hers...but nonetheless happy when I saw them at the airport to pick them up. the expression on her face was priceless.

now, we're trying to get things normalized as soon as possible. buying additional things that we need. bought a stove already so now I get to eat newly cooked meals everyday as opposed to just heating pre-cooked meals from Lulu (this big hypermart).

Viv's been busy memorizing the kid channel schedules and with her v-smile game (bought her a new little Mermaid game). Thess has been all over the house cleaning here and there and taking care of us. Still waiting for a couple of deliveries of furniture...some deliveries out here take so long.

bottomline... am just so happy they're here with me already.

exam woes

the week just didn't start out right. scheduled two cisco exams the other day. passed one, failed the other. was soooo looking forward to putting them both behind me but... no such luck.

one starts to wonder how (un)receptive does one's brain start becoming as one gets older. the career bandwagon professes, one is never too old to learn something new or one should never stop studying/learning, consequence would be tantamount to career suicide. while I personally do subscribe to this, can't help but wonder if forces of nature just ain't on your side on the matter. if any small part of that were true, that would mean it would be doubly hard for somebody learning at age 35 than somebody half that age. for most people, that would somehow ring true.

the danger of realizing this would be if one were to use this as a crutch...an excuse to not push forward. the benefit, is if one's lucky, realizes the presence of these hurdles and clears it despite the age...the taste of victory though seems sweeter at an older age.

forgive the nonsense post...yeah yeah, I failed an exam.