The Return

Over two years ago,

Scott, Ethan and I

set off for a new adventure.

Scott was offered a great position

which brought our family to Zambia.

We loved it.

Zambia is beautiful.

Ethan and I love living in Lusaka.

The past year has been a little difficult.

Scott is now based in Kitwe

and we only get to see him on weekends.

But life is great.

We don't have much to complain about.

But all that's about to change.

Scott's been offered a new position.

Our family will head for a new adventure.

Or maybe re-live an old one.

In a few months,

the Nisbets will return to Dar es Salaam.

Yes, 

watch out Tanzania.

Here we come.

Again!!!

Writer's Workshop - Tweet, Tweet

2. Find a tweet you shared last week and elaborate. 

I couldn't choose,

so I'm sharing a few.

You'll notice the lovely hashtag

of #chocolateconfessions.

So what's the deal 

you're asking.

Right?

Well,

I found a cute book

with chocolate quotes.

So am sharing the love

errrrrr.....

chocolate.

But also,

I'm feeling a little down lately.

Facebook is filled with 

healthy people.

Don't get me wrong,

I'm all for a clean, 

healthy living,

but recently I've felt like 

I'm either a slob,

or a horrible mother.

Don't drink cows milk.

Don't drink too much water.

What exercises are you doing?

Make sure you don't let your body plateau!

I went for a run? Did you?

Again, 

don't get me wrong.

This is great,

but lately I feel that's all people want to talk about.

And not only that,

but no one cares what I do.

Cos' it's not good enough

(my thoughts, not their words).

I work full time.

I study at night.

I'm a part-time single mom.

I use to go to bootcamp,

but it was from 4:30-5:30

which made me feel bad for not having dinner with my son.

So instead,

I joined the 100 squats a day challenge.

I come home from school

and throw in a Jillian Michaels DVD 

while Ethan is out playing with mates.

I eat fruit and vegetables.

And chocolate.

And I don't want to be judged for my chocolate!

And so....

to make me feel better about myself

I'm sharing the chocolate love.

With a few chocolate confessions!

The Happiness Project - Week 26

I celebrated the anniversary 

of my 30th birthday 

this past weekend.

It was a great weekend.

My son bought me flowers.

I had a fantastic dinner

with some incredible mates.

And there was even

a cake!

Then today

a couple of teachers

planned a little luncheon for me.

With cake!

Happiness is chocolate cake

for one's birthday-anniversary!

Future Ex-Husband

One of my mates 

is addicted to the show

The Fixer. 

(I recently learnt it also goes by the name

The Scandal.)

Well...

Monday nights there isn't much on TV

so I listened to my mate

and watched it one week.

And the week after that,

and the week after that!

It would appear, 

I'm also hooked.

And one of the reasons I'm hooked

is one

Scott Foley.

And he's all grown up now.

Not exactly the same

as he was as Noel

on Felicity.

The Anti-Bucket List

We all have things on our

Bucket List.

Things we hope to do

before we die.

And if you're like me,

you probably keep adding to it.

That way,

I'm guaranteed to live a long life,

as I have to make sure I get everything done. 

But...

what about the anti-bucket?

You know...

the things you plan to NEVER do.

For example....

Playing with snakes.

Go skydiving.

Wear a flesh coloured bikini.
(yes I went there!)

Read Heart of Darkness
(I tried it 3 times, and never succeeded)

Time travel.

Walk on the moon.
(or moonwalk)

Mud wrestle

Cook Christmas dinner.

Cook Thanksgiving dinner.

Cook any dinner.

Swallow knives.

Eat fire.

Hmmm....

not sure what else....

Do you have an

anti-bucket?

The Happiness Project - Week 25

When I was 5 months pregnant with Ethan,

a dear mate of mine

told me to visit Babycenter.com.

She said when she was pregnant, 

she loved the site.

Asides from the great information she got

she went to the discussion boards.

There are boards for every month you are due.

So I joined the July 2006 board. 

I met a great bunch of women.

I got some great advice.

From the July board,

sub-groups were formed.

These were based on when you were due.

Since I was due July 8th,

I joined the 

Watermelon Seeds

We were all due within the first week

of July.

From Babycenter,

we moved to Facebook.

There isn't as many of us anymore.

We're a smaller group

but a tight group.

Some of these women 

are my best friends,

and I've never met

any of them.

We have a profound friendship.

This week,

Ethan and I got a care package

from one of the Seeds.

Ethan loves receiving mail.

I love being a Seed.

Happiness is receiving some watermelon goodies

from a watermelon mate.

The College Fund

Up until January,

Zambia did not have any coins.

All the money was paper bills.

Then, in January,

the kwacha was rebased

and the ngwee was added.

The ngwee is the coins.

They aren't worth a whole lot,

and after a year and a half of only bills,

you get used to that

and don't want to be carrying around

a pocketful of change.

So we grabbed a large jar

and we place all our coins into it.

We lovingly call it

Ethan's College Fund.

Every once in awhile,

Ethan counts his money

(he is up to 121 kwacha and 40 ngwee -

roughly $25)

and wants to know if he has enough for college.

Nope!

Not even close!

Well...lately, 

Ethan has been obsessed with the 

Volkswagon Beetle.

The other day,

he asked Scott if

when he gets his driver's license,

would Scott please buy him a Beetle.

Of course,

Scott told him to buy his own.

"With my college fund money?"

Ethan wondered.

"Well then you'll need to choose between

college or a car"

replied Scott.

Without even a moments hesitation,

Ethan jumped up:

"I'm getting a car!!!!"

Well there goes our hopes for college!!!!