WTF Tuesday...

Yup, it's been one of those days. Had a crappy workout this morning. Went and got coffee and came home to do a little cooking. Dropped an entire box of dry spaghetti all over the floor, then spilled a diet Coke and dropped a raw egg. Yup. Definitely a WTF kinda day!

So, I decided I would take a break and read the paper, "The Sun Daily" - a local paper. First, I read this article.

Oy, vey! Seriously!? I'm going to let you do the math on this, but this dad just needs to get a grip! Let his daughter marry whoever the hell she wants - which apparently she did - and get on with his life!

Then, I decided to scan the want ads. Why? I don't know. And this is what I see...

Female below 30 years old?? Seriously?!

Age 35 and below. WTF!?

And these ads were EVERYWHERE!! Some stated that you must be married. Some stated that you could not be married. Age and gender restrictions everywhere. I don't even know what to say about this...

It's only 2:15 p.m., but after this day...it may be time for a drink already.



Fab 5 Friday...

Happy Friday everyone! Time for the Friday Fab 5! These are the little things I'm thankful for this week!

1. Good Kids. Okay...I know I've posted on Facebook that it's time for the kids to go back to school - and I still believe that! (Come on Monday!!!) But, my boys have been super awesome this week! Even though a lot of their neighborhood friends have been on holiday or back at school...my kids have been rockin'! Well-behaved, fun, funny - just good kids!

The boys!

2. Routine. While vacation has been fun and fantastic - I crave routine. This week we worked to get back into a more normal routine...

3. Crossfit. Yup, just glad to be back working out at Crossfit...missed the people, missed the energy, missed the barbell...



4. Age and Wisdom. Yes, I'm thankful for age and wisdom this week. My back went out again on Thursday (damn L4 and L5 disks) - and I had the wisdom to stop my front squats. I'm in this for the long haul - and a few years back I would've pushed through no matter what the pain level was. But, if I want to keep doing the things I love - then I need to listen to my body and back off. Today I didn't WOD (and I WANTED to), but I know that by resting today - I can be back at it next week!

5. Birthday Lunch @ ABC Troika. Thursday had a group of us lunching at ABC Troika for Shannon and Michelle's birthday. It was a fun lunch - with a fabulous group of women. Great conversation and yummy food and drink!

Birthday Lunch!!

So there you have it!!! Hope you've got some things to be thankful for this week!

Bali Art...

We picked up our Bali art from the framer yesterday...

This is the picture Blaine picked out. It has real sand on it...

This is the one I picked out...tons of color.

They weren't terribly expensive pieces, but we'll always have something in which to remember the trip...

Dinner and Cargill Cares...

It's Monday. I have a love-hate relationships with Mondays...the weekend is over (hate), but I always view Mondays as the start of a new week (love). And, so it was today - a definite love-hate!

We had the pleasure of having some folks over for dinner last night. Jennifer Allard was in town for a Cargill project and had a co-worker, Eric with her - so we invited them over! We also invited Hub, our new friend that we met at Dining In The Dark, as he is still in bachelor mode until his wife and children get here on Friday. Easy dinner and lots of laughs. Jen and Eric brought a few fabulous gifts...which they didn't need to do! (But, I LOVE them!)

A candle holder made from a coconut, fried sweet potatoes, and a pineapple bush (tree?)

The pineapple is a symbol of prosperity for the new year

This morning all of us went out to Westport for a Cargill Cares activity. Blaine's office adopted a native school 3 years ago and have been working with them to help provide the children with various things. This year, Cargill provided backpacks with their textbooks and some art supplies for each of the 42 children. The building where the presentation took place was their school up until 1 year ago - at which time, the government started providing transportation for the kids and they now attend a public school with a much larger number of children. It was a well-attended event with the headmistress, the village "mayor", a member of the Malaysian goverment, various teachers, parents and many Cargill employees - along with some of the most adorable children EVER! Many of the adults spoke to the children and parents - there was even a lot of "scolding" going on. (We had a person translating for us.) The mayor spoke to the kids about the importance of education. He said he never went to school and when he was "asked" to move by the government, he readily agreed, but did not totally understand what he was agreeing to - and in turn, lost his livelihood. The government official asked the parents what more they (the government) can do as attendance from this village is very low (only about 40%). She stated that they pick the kids up at their door, provide them with breakfast and lunch each day - and she seemed to be making a very passionate plea for the parents to send their children to school. The teacher told us it is not uncommon to have kids missing class for months at a time with no real valid reason. It broke my heart...

But, then we started handing out backpacks...and there were so many smiles! So fun to see kids opening their backpacks, looking at their new books, and showing their parents. One can only hope that a little bit of renewed enthusiasm about school will help increase attendance.

Preparing for the presentation

Headmistress, Blaine, parents and Cargill employees, and a little cutie listening

Backpacks being distributed

Look at those smiles!

I wanted to bring this little guy home with me! His eyes were so mischievous!

Group photo

Then everyone who was in attendance had breakfast...nasi lemak and Milo!

It was definitely a heart-warming and eye-opening event...

Our Stay In Borneo Continued...

Once again, I still find it a bit surreal to say that I've been to island of Borneo. (It surely was never a place I intended to visit!) But, we really did enjoy the trip to Kota Kinabalu this past week. (We've already asked Blaine when his next trip to KK is - in hopes that we can tagalong!)

Wednesday night we took the kids to a cultural show at the resort. They did some neat dances and the kids were very interested in the dance that involved these long bamboo poles and had the dancers jumping in and out of them as they moved and the bamboo moved.

Thursday had us visiting the orangutans. The Shangri-La Rasa Ria is a stage 1 rehabilitation center for injured or abdandoned orangutans. They currently have 4 orangs between the ages of 3-6 years old. We were lucky enough to see 2 of them on the morning we went - along with a ton of monkeys who happily came to steal their food. I have to say, it was amazing to see the orangutans playing in the trees - just hanging their by one hand and jumping tree to tree. Definitely cool! 

Thursday night had us bringing the boys to the teppenyaki grill at the resort. They had never been to a teppenyaki place, and while we didn't have the most dynamic of chefs (we watched some of the other guys really put on a show), the boys did enjoy it.

Friday was a full day poolside - which hurt no one's feelings. And then Saturday morning - we had to go!

Saying goodbye with some of the staff

Anywho...we are back in KL. Had a fabulous trip! But, I will admit I'm craving a little bit of routine - hopefully, we'll get it back this week!

Fab 5 Friday Funnies...

Okay...we're still in Kota Kinabalu, but I'm banging out a top 5 of things that have just struck me as funny this week! I'll get you caught up on the remainder of our trip over the weekend!

1. Stuffed Proboscis Monkeys. Yes, I posted this to Facebook, but I still can't stop laughing at the freaking stuffed animal with a big nose and a red penis and the words "I am BIG" printed on him...OY VEY! Everytime I walk past the gift shop here at the Rasa Ria, I look in just to see if someone is buying one of these things!

Please let me know if you need me to buy these for your children!

2. Blaine Getting Thrown Out Of A Meeting. Yup, he flew to Tawau on Wednesday to try and deal with a former customer who is threatening to sue. He left at the crack of dawn and had a meeting lasting maybe 5 minutes before the owner/CEO threw up his hands and asked him to be shown out. I laugh because Blaine's quote was, "It's been a long time since I've been thrown out of a meeting." (I don't think he's ever been  thrown out of a meeting to be honest!) Additionally, Blaine knows that this big blow up the CEO had was all staged and part of the culture here of "saving face." Completely ridiculous. And to top it off, the CFO and COO called the salesman today and wanted to continue talks. Yeah, if it was me we'd be continuing talks in court! Thankfully, Blaine is a little more level-headed - although, he's not heading back to Tawau anytime soon!

3. Red Bean Popsicles. So the resort most afternoons passes out watermelon and popsicles while you are by the pool - which is really nice. The first afternoon we were here, the kids readily grabbed two popsicles, unwrapped them and took a big bite of of them. When I looked at their little faces there was a sudden look of shock as they swallowed that first (and last) mouthful. Yeah, that was not a strawberry popsicle - even though it kind of looked like one! It was a red bean popsicle - a very popular Malaysian treat - which my kids did not think was a treat at all! 

You too can make red bean popsicles if you'd like to play this mean little trick on your own children! Click here for a link to a red bean pop recipe! (I'll be honest - I like red bean in things...so I kind of wished I'd tried the popsicles!)

4. Water Aerobics. The two resorts we've been at in the past two weeks have had water aerobics...and it just makes me laugh. I know, I know...I shouldn't laugh. And I'm not really laughing at those participating - I've been in hysterics over the instructors. The first instructor in Bali could only count to 8 - that's all he could do. There was no interaction at all - nothing but 45 minutes of hearing him say, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ,8." And then here, at the Rasa Ria - we have not one instructor, but two - teaching from the deck and it's like a comedy show. I will say that they can count past 8 and they do interact and it's definitely more entertaining, but I hope the participants don't think they worked off that croissant they ate at breakfast! 

Hmmm....I don't think so!

5. Speedos. Once again I will say it...Speedos should be banned. There may only be one thing worse than a Speedo...

Enjoy your Friday folks! Will catch you all back in KL!

Shangri-La Rasa Ria and Fireflies...

So we're in Kota Kinabalu this week. This is located on the east island of Malaysia and we're tagging along with Blaine this week as he had a couple of days worth of business over here. (It was a really great excuse for us to tagalong...this school break of the kids' is S-U-P-E-R long!)

We're staying at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria...which is just spectacular. The rooms are well-kept, the grounds are meticulous and the vast majority of the staff are wonderful. We've been spending most of our days poolside as Blaine has spent the last two days working. There is a waterslide for the kids and a large pool that doesn't have you on top of everyone even at the peak of business. (Although, I don't think it's overly busy here this week - which is nice.)

While this is not an all-inclusive, there have been a bunch of nice added touches...like they bring you ice cold water poolside and cold towels and watermelon and popsicles. (I'll tell you more about the popsicles on Friday - saving that one for Fab 5 Friday Funnies this week.) Anyways...here's some pics of the resort!

We did sign up to go look at fireflies last night. Now, I should really ask more about these excursions when we sign up for them. I assumed we would be walking around the grounds looking for fireflies like we do in the States...maybe putting a few in a jar to watch their asses light up...you know, that sort of thing. So, at 7 p.m. we went to the lobby to meet up with our guide - who then directs us to a van and says we have about a 10 minute drive to get to the place. Okay...we all load up and drive 10 minutes out to the middle of nowhere. I mean I saw a few wild dogs, a couple of shacks with some guys drinking beer out front and then we continued driving into the darkness.(It had all the makings of a bad movie!) When we stopped, 3 guys met us and took us down to a boat. Really!?! We're going out on a boat (without life jackets and with my husband who doesn't swim) in the pitch black??! But, yes...we did. And it was - COOL! We took the boat out on the river where we saw thousands of fireflies in the mangrove trees. Our guide was really personable...gave us just enough information on the fireflies, caught a few for everyone to hold in their hands and then chatted about Malaysia and soccer and all sorts of stuff my boys found interesting. A fun little excursion!

Tomorrow we're off to see the orangutans...which I'm rather excited about!! And Blaine has tomorrow off! Woot! Woot! Later peeps!