52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 48

I have a little garden in my backyard.

It's slowly growing,

there's tomatoes

and basil.

Happiness is a beautiful garden growing out back.

Pizza in the Hood

Our friends, Tommy and Elizabeth built themselves a wood pizza oven.

How cool is that????

I'm seriously considering asking Tommy to build us one too.

So yesterday they had their first run through.

And as they live in the "hood", 

I call this:            

   Pizza in the Hood!    

After all, we did have 

Halloween in the Hood,

Thanksgiving in the Hood,

Christmas in the Hood,

so why not

Pizza in the Hood!!!!!

Part of Pizza in the Hood was to roll out your own dough.

We had a toppings bar,

and there was an insanely long queue.

But you know the pizza was good.

It even received thumbs up from Ethan.

LH3

When I lived in Dar,

I was a, proud, member of the

 Dar es Salaam Hash House Harriers.

For anyone that isn't familiar with the Hash,

it's a drinking club with a running problem.

We use to meet every Monday night.

It was usually a 5k run or a 3k walk.

We'd then get back together,

form a circle,

sing silly songs,

and then have dinner.

I loved it.

I was even given a Hash name on my 3rd hash.

I even hashed when I was pregnant

(and stuck to drinking water).

However, after Ethan was born,

the hash was harder to do.

I went a couple times with Ethan,

carrying him in a sling,

but the hash was around his feeding time.

Then, as he got older,

the choice was between hashing,

or giving Ethan his dinner and putting him to bed.

I hadn't thought about the Hash in a long time.

Then a colleague of mine,

invited me to join her and her kids

to the Lusaka Hash House Harriers.

Yup her kids went!

Apparently the LH3 isn't quite as rowdy

as the DH3.

It's also a Saturday afternoon.

Ethan joined me when we went to a hash in December.

It was the mince pie hash.

It was a small hash, but we had fun.

We enjoyed it so much,

we went hashing again yesterday.

There were a lot more people there.

And we're off.

Ethan loves the hash.

This week, 

Ethan walked a dog,

and found a chameleon.

When he got tired,

Celia and Charlie

gave him a lift.

We got back,

and it was circle time.

First the hares entered, 

then the newcomers.

There were a lot of newcomers this week.

Celia had an announcement to make,

so she went in the circle.

Since Ethan was on her shoulders

he went in too.

And remembered to take off his hat.

(No hats in the circle.)

You know it's a good hash,

when your son finds a mate, 

and the two of them find the chalk,

and decorate your butt!

52 Weeks of Happiness - Week 47

Don't you just love the smell of baked goods?

Your whole kitchen, and possibly house, 

smells delicious.

I came home today to that smell.

OMG!!!!

Love it.

Mary, our housekeeper,

and Ethan

baked some banana bread.

Happiness is a wonderful loaf of banana bread.

P.H.A.T.

I've enjoyed the last 5 months living in Lusaka.

I've probably enjoyed it a wee bit too much.

It would appear life in Lusaka means gaining a kilo,

or two.

So when I saw the Six Sisters 8-Week Challenge

I knew I had to join.

I found some colleagues at work who also wanted it.

We tweaked the chart a bit.

And we're off!

This is week 1 for us.

Today is day 1.

I don't think I've drunk so much water!

I'm really excited for this challenge,

since it's not so much a diet,

as a life choice.

You earn points for being healthy.

Eating your fruits, veggies, drinking water, exercising. 

My struggle will be staying away from the lattes 

or anything sweet.

Or even giving up wine o'clock!

We've all put in 100,000 Kwa ($20)

and each week the person with the most points gets a,

non-food related,

treat.

We've even given ourselves a name.

PHAT

Physical, Healthy, Active Teachers.

I went out for a walk with 2 colleagues yesterday.

I planned to take a picture of me,

so I could post a before,

and hope the after is much better.

I'm a little scared of the before shot.

Let's see how I do at the end of the 8 weeks,

and maybe I'll share both.

Yes, I'm chicken!!!!

Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts

My mate Sarah introduced me to the Black Dagger Brotherhood and the Drake Sisters. I love them both. She also gave her seal of approval to the Cat & Bones series. So when she recommended Nora Roberts trilogy, I'd be a fool to pass up.

To be honest, I've never read anything by Nora Roberts. I know she writes romance novels, but have never read one. Have never been interested. To be honest, when Sarah told me about the trilogy, I wasn't entirely sold. But then Christmas vacation came around and I needed some books. 

Morrigan's Cross is a trilogy about vampires, love, goddesses, time travel. I don't know how else to explain it. In 17th century Ireland, Hoyt's brother Cian is turned into a vampire. The goddess, Morrigan, comes to him and tells him he must lead an army against the powerful vampire Lilith. He is thrown through time to current day New York, where he meets his brother and a witch, Glenna. Together they are the first of the army.

So, I have to admit, I had some issues with the beginning. So in the 17th century Lilith creates vampires, but the battle will happen today? The Gods are allowing her to continue to create vampires, and build her army for a thousand years before the battle? I had issues with Hoyt's time travel.

But I got over it.

There's a wonderful power between Hoyt and Glenna. We see Hoyt return to his Irish home, but a thousand years after leaving it. There's the relationship between Hoyt and his twin. Cian is no longer human, but still his brother, is he not? 

The biggest issue I had with the book, was the ending. There was none! It continues in the second book. And I don't have it. But Sarah came to the rescue. She's sent it to me. So I will be back with news on what happens next....

Time to Throw in the Towel?

Like any couple deciding to get married, when Scott and I got engaged, we knew we wanted a family. Two, maybe even three kids. I love kids. I taught preschool for years, and often said it was the best job ever. I got to play with playdough all day long. What could be better?

A year after we got married, we moved to Korea. The plan was to be gone for a year. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to do some travelling before we settled down and started having children. Well the one year turned into three years. At this point, we loved the Expat life that children got thrown on the backburner. In fact, we were thinking maybe only having one. And that was a maybe.

After a few years in Tanzania, we realised this would be our new home. We had a lot of mates with children and realised we did in fact want children. But now, many years had passed, and the idea of three kids didn't seem realistic. We were back down to one or two.

Once we made the decision, we were excited. We knew it would probably take a year to get pregnant, so we never focused on that. Four months later, April 1st, 2005 at midnight, I was being rolled into surgery. I had a twin ectopic. My tube had erupted. I had never heard of an ectopic pregnancy before, and couldn't understand how it happened since I didn't even know I was pregnant.

It seemed the dream of having children had come to an end. 

The saying that God has a plan is true.

Six months later, we learnt we were expecting Ethan.

Thrilled is an understatement. 

I always call Ethan my miracle baby. It seems that may have more meaning than I believed.

Since Ethan's birth, we've tried for another. We've had a few miscarriages. As Ethan gets older, the age difference also grows. Is it time to throw in the towel?

This past week, my little cousin came to visit. She's 11. Which means there's a 6 year age difference between her and Ethan. We went out for lunch, went to the mall, played at home. She gave me an idea of what life would be like in 5 years, if we were to have another. She's great with Ethan. Except when she disappeared and Ethan followed her. Has anyone seen the children? I would often say. But it was great. And made me realise how much I want another.

So here's the thing. We're not pregnant. And I'm beginning to loose faith. I've got mates who have had 2 or 3 and are trying for 3 or 4. They're not as old as I am, so you know they'll be blessed. And that pisses me off. I love them dearly, but why do they get the chance for a third or fourth when we can't have a second? 

Let's face it. As much as I like to think I'm 32, I'm not. And I'm not getting any younger. We haven't been able to keep a pregnancy since Ethan was born. So, it it time to throw in the towel? Do we give up the dream? I love my family of three. But can I accept that that's all we'll ever be?