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We bought a house.... now...
here's an excerpt (that's not a word I normally use) from an email I sent out recently.

Well, we are getting things together for the house smashing. Everything is cinderblock and we want to move a few walls. I went to price out laminate for benchtops. (that's kitchen counters for you North Americans- it took a while to figure that out) Anyway, the man who was 'helping' me said it was "too much money for you!" I went "Huh?!" He says, again, "Laminate, too much money for you...2 hundred dolla!" "too much money for you" again, I say "Huh, wha, It's usually so inexpensive where I come from" He says," Better you go to another store where they have cheaper laminate for you...2hundred dolla, too much for you!" My response.. "but but but .... what , do you even have any?" "NO any, better you go to another store. Too too much money for you, 2 hundred dolla."

that's when my cranium opened up and my brain fell out.

because I'm just a female.


I think you might be apt to agree with him on some fronts but all I was asking was if they actually HAD any!

So, after that, I went home because that was enough enjoyment for my day. Did I mention that the boys were climbing all over the timber and tiles and basically getting into everything? After he was rude to me, I just let them at it!

Evil white woman. (Kaivalungi)

Most stuff is frustrating like that, or you go into a hardware store to buy a tool or some non descript item but they don't know what it is, don't know if they have it and are too lazy to check, or just don;t want YOU to have it, so they send you to the chemist (pharmacy) (aka wild goose chase), who sends you to the barber, who sends you to the timber yard, who sends you to the tourist store, who tells you ... "of coarse we don't sell .... - said non descript item- (fill in the blank) , try at the Vinod Patel Hardware store" "oh, we were just there, they said you might have the - non descript item - " ..... "No ma'am, we don't have them, maybe you should try the fruit and veggie market , I'll bet they have the - non descript item - just go down that street, turn left, ask for Jone" ...... at this point you're morbidly curious if you will actually ever find the item and if it is at the Veggie market you might just jump off the nearest cliff. You are also "this close to going home" and ... it's hot and humid, and .... you are lugging 2 children everywhere...and ... everyone else wants you to come into their shop to just "have a look!" And everyone else wants to grab your babies and hold them and they end up frightened or angry. Of course, you still haven't located - non descript item - and you haven't found it at the fruit and veggie market like you were told you would, because, "who would sell those here?" So, Jone tells you, " no, Ma'am, you can't get that here" I respond, "You mean, in the market?" ... "No, in Fiji." he relies. Back I go to where the car is parked, at least I didn't have to jump any cliffs today, back to the Vinod Patel Hardware parking lot. Now, some one has to go pee and all I know is that it ain't me. Into the Vinod Patel we go, (just tell me I can't take my kid to the toilet, just try it, I'll let him pee where he first suggested, on those nice marble steps up to your customers entrance....) As we walk out of the toilet, I decide to bang my head into brick walls one more time... "Excuse me sir, do you have - non descript item- ?"

.. wait for it ......




"Yes Ma'am, we have it right here, you just walked past it on you way out of the toilet" (with your screaming children)


Purchase made, I will never leave the house again.


That was Tuesday.

So, how was your last trip to Canadian Tire? Was it everything that I remember it to be? Don't burst my bubble, please, it's all I have left!!!

So, we bought a house. Right nrxt door to the one we've been renting for over a year. We looked at that house last year but it doesn't have a bathtub and with the little ones, it makes like so much easier. Bathtubs are rare in this country. That's probably what th ocean is for! SO, we still have the dilemma of finding a space for a tub. With a North American house, this would be easy, rip out a wall, throw in a new one for more space, and voila, a bathtub! Here, cinderblock heaven. cinderblock hell. You can't move any exsisting plumbing and a small reno job is never just that, especially here. We also get to put in a normal sized fridge! I never, in a million years, would have thought this would make me happy, actually it doesn't but it does make me a little excited! The fridge we have now is what you'd find in a bachelor pad back home, slightly larger that a bar fridge.

Anyway, We will be making a home and not using other peoples, bed, pillows, forks, knives, cups and plates.

Well, that's all I got this morning. After the roosters and the dogs stopped argueing, I just couldn't get back to sleep.

This morning, my little cherub faced Elias, not even two years old, came up to me and called me a "dumb-head, butt-head". AWWWW isn't he sweet? Of coarse, he likes the crazy faced reaction he gets from me and has continued to say that all morning. What to do? besides laugh until I choke(cause I can't let on that it's funny) I just tell him to try another grouping of words...that's when he calls me a "cheese-ball meat-head"
I suppose this is the influence of older brothers. I can't say for sure where Alec gets it from but he does talk like Shaggy sometimes (the cartoon, not the singer!) So TV becomes a huge influence. Although at times he rattles off in some other language that he says is Fijian. Which, it's not. just blabber wishing to be another actual language!

Well, the little cherub has now brought me a diaper as he can't deal with the pressures of potty training right now. and then he tells me "luv you Mum. luv you Ali"
diapers wait for no man...quite literally!

It's weird to realize that palm trees look so normal. I also watched a man walk his 3 'beasts of burden' across the highway and my thoughts were on his 4th missing one, not on the fact that there are huge animals on ropes crossing the busy road. I never knew that marigolds could grow so large, like small trees, and that I'm tempted to use the ash that floats around here on my teeth. ( somewhere along the lines I have heard that some people use ashes to keep their teeth REALLY white.) I will not admit to it either way! I still cannot get lavendar to grow, not in the Great White North and not in the Tropics. Our milk comes in a box on a shelf or in powdered form. Noone repairs fans. They just thow them but there is a little sign outside every third house that states, in scrawling uneven script, "We repare vcrs, vibeo, tV's and modile phones"
Lastly for now, ground beef is so lean that when you fry it up, you need to add fat to it. Guess these tropical cows can't reach the coconuts from under the coconut trees that they graze under. Lots of fat in coconut, that's something else that I didn't know.

Ok, so, we count the days until Craig, Vic, Jaz, Keegan and Mac get here. I can't wait until my babysitters get here! kidding.

With Alec in Kindergarten now we have a much healthier schedule. He goes every morning 8:15-11:15 and everyday, he wants to skip" (definately my kid) but it allows me to do the marketing without having to arm wrestle a 4 yr old and struggle with a 1 year old. As soon as we get around the shops, they turn into little imps and monkies and by the time we leave any place, I need a shower, even though I have enough sweat to make it look like I've just had one! nice.

On that refreshing note.
moce