Ok, here we go.

Well, my crappy assed job approved my leave of absence for the middle of February to the middle of March. Do you all know what that means? Egypt. We are making the very long, but oh so worth it, trip to Egypt. I can't wait to see everyone again. Just thought i would let you all in on that.
I will be posting holiday pictures soon, so hang tight, my peeps.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

ho, ho ho, is almost here here here

Well, the holiday season is here again, and i have been too busy to blog. Sorry folks, I will be really bad about blogging until the end of the year. But here is a nice picture of Jennah for now.

Potty Animal.

No Mommy blog would be complete with out potty training pictures. Here is my boy working that potty. We like to make sure he is nice and settled in with a cup of strawberry Qwik before we have him do his business. Sadly, he still hasn't quite got the pooping concept down yet, but boy, can that kid pee.

My little Muslim boy.....

Here is Ayman, imitating his daddy praying. In the above picture, he is just starting the prayer.




Here he is in the position or ruku'a. Seriously folks, it took me a long time to learn this. He is a natural.


And finally, taslim, or the end of the prayer. How 'bout that? Ma'sha'allah.

Double take

Oh yeah, these two are related.

Wooo Frickin' HOOOOO!!!!

I am so stoked. I cannot believe the democrats have the power, again, finally. Nancy Pelosi will be speaker of the house.. Now that isn't just a Democrat. She is a San Fransisco liberal Democrat. So awesome. SUCK IT BUSH. Enjoy the next two years, lame duck. And Rumsfeld, hardee-fricking-har jerkoff, your out of a job, write that one down. And on that note i give you adorable pictures, recently snapped, of my monkeys, enjoy.



















Here we have Ayman wearing a stuffed frog easter basket from 2005 on his head while playing a saxophone toy. Totally awesome. Creative too. He has a real sense of style for an almost 3 year old. You really have to appreciate it.















Here are both monkeys. Ayman was playing the never boring game i like to call "Careful, Sissy!" He made it up not me. It goes like this:

me: hey hey hey hey-careful, sissy!

Ayman: Carefool sissy!

Jennah: hehehehe, snort grunt giggle

me, nervous: seriously, Ayman be careful of your sissy, she isn't your pillow! you'll hurt her!

Ayman: Sissy!

Jennah: hehehehehehe snort fart grunt giggle

me, resigned: heyheyhey! look over here at mommy! *click*

Halloween '06

Well, I think I can declare this years Halloween a success. After working on Ayman for the last week or so about trick or treating and having him watch a Dora the Explorer Halloween episode a gillion times, we went trick or treating. Last Wednesday I tried his Elmo costume on him and he had a ridiculous hissy. So being a nice mommy, I made him a Dracula costume. He looked awesome. He really worked the door to door as well. We went trick or treating in my Aunt and Uncles neighborhood in Manteca, not too far away. Ayman had to keep up with his candy crazy cousin Adam. After the first three houses, Ayman was going up to the doors without me, like a pro. I waited out on the side walk with the princess and we watched Ayman collect his booty. (I went through it when I got home. I don't ever remember geting so much stuff. It could have been the cute factor.) So here is what I did in the interest of my sons teeth,and his daddy's sanity-- I got all the good chocolate candy out of the mess and left the crap. We will dole it out to him over the course of who knows how long, but momma has her hook up of Almond Joy, Butterfinger, Snickers and Whoppers. I love Halloween. Yes, Ayman, that is right. when you get big enough to read this you can call me to task for horking your candy, but until then you are none the wiser. I love you, boy. Anyhoo, he was soooooo good and careful and did what I told him to all night- until we got home. Can you say OVERSTIMULATED? Well he was. He got a bath and went to bed. end of story, sort of.


This was Jennah, she slept for most of the trick or treating. she was a good girl. Her Sweet Pea outfit didn't work out so well so we just stuck with her Halloween themed clothing I got her from Target. It was all good. We didn't hear hardly a peep from her all night.
Thanks Uncle Jim and Aunt Cindy for having us over to your neighborhood, and thank you Adam for being so patient with your little cousin on his first real Halloween.

Wednesday at home

Jennah was kicking it on the the floor with the Boppy last night. She is getting so curious. I notice more and more that she will really reach for the toys out of her range, and get them. Soon enough she will be crawling and then it will be on. He brother will have no where to hide. It is kind of fun to imagine what she will do when she is mobile, but not so fun to think of how many gates i am going to have to set up. I think i need like three more than i have now, which is used to keep Ayman in his room at nap time. In this first picture she is examining the juggling ball that came in her brothers Wendy's kids meal.



















In this second picture, she is just being her sweet baby self, hanging out with one of her giraffes. She has a couple of different ones now, and I just thought of one more she might like to play with. Now that I think of it, she also has clothes with giraffes on them. Totally not on purpose. How weird. I didn't even mean to do that. Too bad I got her Halloween costume already or she would be a giraffe. Maybe that is a blessing.
















This last picture, of course is of the boy. He has made a great transition to the big boy bed but still sleeps all crazy in it. He starts out normal, but when I check on him during the course of the night he has inevitably done a 180 in there. Right now, he is either catching another darn cold or he has allergies. I hope it is allergies to all the crap in the air, but I think it is another cold. How can this be? He just got over a cold. This sucks. In this pic he is snot-nosed and has runny eyes too. My poor boy. Hopefully he will be over it come Halloween.

Crazy cute girl.

So as I wrote on Wednesday, Jennah turned seven months old. As my mom pointed out, I posted a picture of the angel on the day she was born, but not a current picture. So here they are. I let Jennah have a taste of chocolate cake. As you can see, a little goes a long way.



Is my kid cute or what?
Totally not biased.

Jennah is 7 months and other milestones.

Here is my girl, about 15 minutes after she was born. Today she is 7 months old. My mom and I took her for some shots and some medical rotovirus. She is soo good that she only cried for like 3 seconds, or about the amount of time it took to pull up her little pants and pick her up. She is really mellow. Right now she just started making like she is chewing her food and it is so cute. She really smacks those little gums together to chew the mooshy food i give her. She gets lots of bananas, yogurt, cereal, avocado and breastmilk. Sunday she got to try her daddys favorite-Koshary. I ground it up in the babyfood processor and she was all over it. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but judging by the amount of drool she is putting out, she should be cutting some anytime now. She makes all kinds of noises and her brother is the apple of her eye. Ayman calls her "sissy" and gives her kisses all the time. one of his favorite things to do is take toys away from her then give them back, aboiut 30 seconds later. Whenever Daddy comes home from work, she can't wait for him to pick her up. If he goes past her with out doing so, she has a baby freakout. We love you Sissy.

I took this picture of my boy this past weekend. He hadn't sat in this chair for a while as it was on "time out" in the garage. It was getting to be the end of the day and he got a babydoll (also from the garage) and just kind of sat in front of the house. Like he was just enjoying the peace at the end of a grueling day of playing at the park, eating sandwiches and Doritos, drinking juice and having fun. I guess even at 34 months you have to take the time to smell the roses. It was adorable.

And finaly we have this picture. I took this because it is Aymans first night in his big boy bed. (that he has had for over a year now) He did so good. I can't believe he even slept under the covers. Today I put all of the little girl stuff on his crib, and someday I hope to have Jennah sleep in it. Right now she is perfectly happy sleeping right between mommy and daddy, close to the milk supply. Ayman only had one incident last night with crying, and he got over it quick. Lets hope tonight goes off with out a hitch. Now, if we could only teach him how to use the potty....

Flashback, Yo.

All of these photos were taken in the month of October,in the years '04, '05 and '06, all around the 10th. Man, has my boy grown up or what?

Bathtime for babies

Amr gave the kids a bath tonight and I got to take some pictures of the action. Ayman likes to pour water over Jennahs head. She doesn't seem to mind. Now, pour water over his head, and he has a mini hissy. I guess she is just cool like that. We are slowly getting over all the sickness here, but I swear, I was getting sick all over again last night. But, that could have been due to the fact that i only got to sleep for two hours after I got off of work yesterday. Being a mom on 2 hours sleep sucks big time. I miss my mommy. She lets me come to her house on Mondays and she will watch the kids while I catch a nap. It totally helps. She is in Cabo this week so I was out of luck. Yesterday, I even had the kids sleeping at the same time, but when I went to sleep I was so nervous that Jennah was going to wake up, that I couldn't sleep. How stupid is that? Oh and you know what else sucks? After a 16 month reprieve, Aunt Flo has finally come to visit again. That depresses me. I feel like if I was just breastfeeding a little more, she wouldn't have come back yet. And of course she couldn't come visit on one of the two nights I called in sick for work, no no no no. She had to come when I was at work and caught completely unawares. we can say she came unannounced, I mean like, seriously unannounced. I mean, I used to kind of feel her coming. Not this time. Oh well. What can ya do? It had to happen some time. It was good run.

Sweet Ride, Baby

I hooked Jennah up with her brothers super-sweet tryke today.

I think she likes it.

A taste of my own medicine.

When I was little my mom and dad hated to give me medicine, particularly Pepto Bismol, because I would chuck it right back up. My memories of these occasions are slightly different than theirs, however. I can remember telling my mom one night when I had an upset stomach, that I wouldn't take the Pepto because it "makes me throw up." I specifically said this. She made me take the vile stuff and
seconds later pink bismuth and vomit.

Hello, I told you I would barf it up.

Needless to say, I am reminded of this constantly. Well, my son is a good medicine taker. You bring it to him, he takes it.

Not last night.

Every once in a while he will refuse the medicine, and we have to do it "Daddys way" which is to say, we hold him down and force him to swallow it. Last night he was majorly cranky and we had to use this method. So, all together it is 2 tsp of medicine. The first tsp got swallowed with not too much resistance. But the second.... well the second was a different story. He cacked, and finally gagged on it so much we had to raise him up where he promptly yacked on my (freshly washed, from earlier in the week when he got poo on it, ) bed sheet.

Man did his hurl reek. He had pizza earlier in the evening, just cheese of course but, ewwww.

Back in the wash went the sheet.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is a parents revenge in a tiny little nutshell.

Please enjoy, Mom and Dad.

Ughh.

I hate this. We are all sick. Jennah, Ayman, Amr and myself. It sucks to be sick and take care of two sick kids. Amr has been a great help though. He goes to work early and comes home early in the afternoon to help out. He is getting sick now too though so, i am going to have to call in to work for a couple of days. taking care of the kids when they are ill is no fun when you are by yourself. Anyhoo, that is that. I am sick and tired, literally. Must. Go. Sleep.

Sign #234 that you are definitely, a Mommy.

Because, let's face it people,
unless you know who Diego is, you are not gonna get this post. I will
try to make it appeal to the masses though.

Last night Ayman, Jennah and I were on my bed and Ayman
was watching Go, Diego Go! He totally loves that show, and as a bonus, I don't find it riduculously annoying. Anyhoo , a few minutes before, I had let him wear my watch, a digital Timex
withindiglo. Well, I was talking to my mom, and sitting with the kids, and I realized Ayman was saying something. I know, it is not unusual for kids to say something. But for Ayman, it is. He is just in the last few weeks, really grasping the
fact that with words, you can ask for and comment on things, or maybe even say "hi" to your Gramma or Grampa. So he is sitting there playing with the wristwatch, and watching Diego, and he kept saying "eesha", and "eesheea".

Then I had a light bulb moment.

Diego talks to his sister via wristwatch video communicator thingie. Her name is Alicia. He was using the watch and trying to call Alicia.

My heart melted right then and there.
I love my boy.

Ramadan Mubarek.

It is that time of year again. Ramadan. I can't believe it. It came so fast. To all you Muslim folks out there-Kol sena winta taybeen.
Tonight I made dinner for the mosque that Amr goes to. It is a small mosque so it turns out I am only feeding like 20 people. Beef, peas, carrots, rice, salad, hummos, pita bread pasta salad (Thanks Gene!) cupcakes, and chocolate cake. Don't think I am not going to get some for myself before it goes out the door. Amr and Ayman will be enjoying it at the mosque, I will eat it here (it is a student mosque, and mens only) and Jennah will be enjoying it thru the boob. Subhan allah.
I went to check out a different school yesterday. I was thinking this last weekend, that there was no way I could go to the school in Sacramento and still have anykind of life. School itself is like, 9 hours, there is three hours commute time as well. That is too long to have my kids being taken care of by someone else, and it leaves me no time to sleep or study, so I will be attending the longer, crappier school, that has better hours (25 minutes away, and 4 hours a day.) now I just have to come up with the money for said school. Apparently you have to live in a cardboard box to get financial aid. I have to come up with 4K myself. So I have been applying for scholarships and loans online. Totally fun. NOT. At least I have some time though-- the school starts in January, but I think I am going to end up going by myself, when before I was planning on going with friends. I don't know if it is going to work for them.
hmmmmm lets see, what else to say? I mean I know I haven't been blogging at all lately, I have been a tad bit busy. Hopefully I will have everything squared away and under control by mid October. What a relief that will be, lemme tell ya.

Tired and lazy makes for bad blogging.

I really haven't wanted to do blog lately. You can totally tell this by lack of posting. I have been doing a lot though. I got braces three weeks ago. And damn. They hurt. I have also been applying for respiratory school. The school is 19 months long. I had to go and look at the school first ( it is an hour away ) and then the next week my friend Nelsy and Sheryl and I went to do the placement testing for it. I did good on the tests so I can enroll in the program. Now I only have to put the rest of my packet together with my resume, and a handwritten essay, along with a letter of reference from a respiratory therapist (which dude, will be so hard. My dad and brothers are RTs and I work with a few of them in the hospital....) anyway. All this with work and two kids. Sometimes I don't really know what to do with myself. It starts at the end of November. It is going to be hard, but it will be worth it. The pay is so much better and I can totally do it. My job right now is going bye bye. The hospital decided to put the phlebotomists, under the supervision of the nursing department. They have to change our job description, and we have reapply for our jobs. I don't really want the new job though. It will be more work for a job that I didn't sign up for in the first place. I am going to see if I can collect unemployment if they eliminate my job and change it, why not? I bet I wouldn't be able to though. But if I could that would be a dream. And, ideal for a school schedule. Eh. Whatever. I am just tired. Friday night there was like 4 codes in the hospital, two of them in the er. The Dr working was a total tool and I was running my ass off all night. He almost intubated a 95 year old man with a DNR. The dude had some last wishes. He was lucky his daughter was there to make sure they were observed or that doc would have intubated him for sure. Jerk.
On a happier note, I got front row seats for Kathy Griffin. It is on November 29th.
I am going with my mom and sis in law. And you know what is cool? I saw her at that time last year too. Something to look forward too. Well I am gonna go now. I have heartburn and I am pooped out.

Extreme Ayman

This picture is poor quality but i still love it. I have been a crappy blogger of late, but please enjoy the following pictures of my monkeys.


This one looks like a paparazzi picture.


Here we have brother and sister bonding time in Mommy and Daddys big bed. Jennah is a half second away from totally crying.

I invaded a blog.

I went ahead and invaded my sister in laws blog, so if any of you want to check it out, here is the link. Living vicariously through siblings And if you are feeling super generous, you can donate to her Walk for Diabetes fund. There is a link in the post somewhere. Other than that i just kinda rambled.
See ya!

Tom Cruise, Scientology, and lip gloss.

So, Tom Cruise got fired from Paramount, basically because of his personal behavior.. Hmmmmmm....I don't really see why, I mean he is just a normal guy with a girlfriend who had his baby..... that he has shut away, and sucked the soul out of. I mean, what is up with this dude, anyway? He was normal at one time. Or at least he passed himself off as normal. Is it because of Scientology? Because I am reading about it, and it looks pretty kooky to me. L. Ron Hubbard actually recommended that breastfeeding be avoided, and that a child should be given a mixture of "barley water, homogenized milk, and corn syrup or honey." Stating that he picked it up "In roman days" Hello? I don't even know where to start on this one. I mean since when is it alright to give a baby honey anyway? And the thought that breastmilk is bad for the baby? Oh crap, my head may explode. Of course I might just be being *glib* over here but ole' Tommy boy needs to get over himself and wake up.
And on an unrelated note....
Today I was praying the early after noon prayer (Dhur) and Ayman was doing things he shouldn't be doing, knowing, I am not going to stop praying tot stop him. So I can hear him get into the computer cabinet, and in there I had some lip gloss and other Dr. Pepper flavored lipstuff. I can hear him opening it and putting the lid back on it.... He loves the lipstuff, his lips are chapped all the time so we put some vanilla lip balm on him a few times a day. anyhoo, I am just finishing up the prayer, I am on the ground on my knees saying the last part of it quietly. He comes over and stands dead in front of me on the prayer rug, so I close my eyes because he will do anything to get you to look at him. So, my eyes are closed and I am just about done, when I feel lip balm being applied to my lips- not neatly. Seriously, do you have any idea how hard it is to keep your concentration when something like that is going on? I finished up and this is what greeted me-


lovely isn't it?
Well hey, thanks for joining me, I have nothing else to say right now and the pipsqueek is crying. Time to take off the blogger hat and put on the mommy one. Later folks.

This is better.

I woke up this morning to find this tidbit in the news. A judge overturned the wiretapping that has been going on on innocent (Muslim) Americans. Good. Now when I talk on the phone maybe I won't hear all the clicks and beeps I sometimes hear. If you think I am being paranoid, I have proof. Last week, I was talking to my mom on the phone and there was a click and a beep, like someone was using old call waiting to get in to the conversation. I don't have any call waiting, old or otherwise. It wasn't me hitting a button on my phone, (it didn't sound like that) and it wasn't my mom either. I have had this happen a lot in the last few years. So has my husband. I think I wrote before about a conference call he was on with his friends, one in the bay area and one in North Carolina. At one point, A recording of half of their conversation played back in their ears. Not smart, NSA. Oh well. I guess it is time to look for bugs in my house too.

Weekend trips and offensive opinions.

Rub a dub dub 3 kids in a tub.
Wow, I guess I have been slacking off on the job lately. I have kind of hit a blogging rut over here, I don't have much to say, of course actually I do, but it is pretty inflammatory, so I will get with the happy happy first. This weekend I went to the bay area to see my friend Heba. She has two little ones like me but hers are both around 9-10 months older than mine. It was a lot of fun. We got there late on Friday night, and we all slept in one room (three beds, don't ask, the bay area is expensive, y'all) Ayman was so wound up he didn't sleep until like, 2 am. Everytime the room would get quiet, one of the kids would giggle, or like Jennah, fart, and it would send all the kids (and mommies too, ) into fits of giggles. I was having slumber party flashbacks. On Saturday we went to a park, and the kids played. Then, we returned to the apartment and Heba made a great Egyptian style Dinner, that Amr, brought his cousin Amr (nope, not a mistake, I said Amr.) to. Amr is a neurosurgeon visiting from Egypt to learn all kinds of hitech stuff they do in hospitals here. Currently he is studying at University of San Francisco. Anyway, the food was delicious and we all ate too much. Sunday, the kids were driving each other and their mothers nuts so we left at about 3 pm, a fun time was had by all.

Amr, Amr and Ayman.
Now for the offensive. I will post this Youtube clip, which is the only clip I have ever seen that TRUTHFULLY states what was and is going on with Lebanon and Israel. I refuse to toe the Bush Party Line, people. Let the flaming comments commence.

A new show to series record....

Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I love this show. I watched it tonight. Not what I thought. Plus, Gene Simmons has a real cutie pie of a son. It is fun to watch. Also, I watched Dog the Bounty Hunter last night. He got married. Can I just say, Beth looked stripperific and Dog was representin' the trailer park all the way. His mullet was lookin' extra sweet, as were the coordinating roach clips he was wearing in it. Click for the wedding album. Well that is all, time for beddie bye, peace out, y'all.

You have to do this.

Snakes on a Plane! Have Samuel L. Jackson call anyone you want to pimp Snakes on a Plane. Must hear it to believe it! Thanks Colleen! Click Me!

Seriously, don't read this if you hated my breastfeeding post.

Here are some recent and adorable pictures of Jennah, before I get down and dirty regarding my breastfeeding post. May I say, Mean Aunt Cindy, I love you and please don't be offended.

Poor thing! Got her mommys ears.

What I like about this one is, she is looking at me, not the camera.

I have another sweetie baby on my hands.

Ok, so I guess I do have to call myself a breastfeeding Nazi. I had a phone conversation with my aunt last night and she told me to "get over it." I had to try and bite my tongue at that. I guess I should keep the ranting to my blog and leave my communications with others to bland statements. I don't mean to cause anyone any guilt about their decisions to formula feed. That is not my intent. I am writing how I feel over here. Everybody has their own reasons for things, no matter what my opinions are of those things it is a free country.
Regarding the comments I received, I still think a 15 year old boy will probably pop wood no matter what,seeing someone breastfeed or not though. Don't 15 year olds float boners like 50 times a day? Ewww, I don't wanna think of that. I mean hey, guys used to check out National Geographic when I was in elementary school, before most of them found out that their dads had huge hidden stashes of porn. Not that the internet isn't good for that now, or anything.
I think breastfeeding moms have rights. Apparently all 50 states and the District of Columbia does too, since all have legislation to protect the rights of a breastfeeding mother in public. It isn't a sex act, it is a mother feeding a child. So, sorry "None breastfeeding Mom" (if you are who you say you are, and I don't believe so, just know I know your true identity, because you are not sly. It is good to see you are still reading my blog, bitch) if you feel a woman should stay in her car to feed. I think that is ridiculous. Once again, My blog, my words, don't like it, don't visit. 'Nuff said.

For Colleen

Okay I know that it has taken me a while to come up with this list, Colleen, and I am sorry. First I forgot, then I was in a whirlwind of drs appointments and such lately. So here goes.

here are a few things that have nothing to do with my family, but make me happy:

Watching TV, after the kids are asleep, whatever I have on the DVR. This is such a chunk of what makes me happy that I will list what I love to watch:
Medium
ER
My Name Is Earl
The Office
Project Runway
Kathy Griffins Life On the D-List
Top Chef
Anything that Bill Kurtis narrates
Entourage
West Wing reruns on Bravo
Law and Order of anykind but Criminal Intent.

*whew* it just occurred to me I watch way tooooo much TV.

I also love to listen to music, these days I just get favorite songs here and there, but here is an example, my playlist on Rhapsody right now:

"Bebot" by the Black Eyed Peas
"Don't want you back", by Backstreet boys
"What I got" and "Santeria" by Sublime
"Hate me" By Blue October
"Change" by Deftones
"Rio" by Duran Duran
"It's my life" by No Doubt

I love to bake things, usually quick breads and cakes, and eat them. (no wonder my ass is fat.)

I love my flowers. Mostly impatiens but I picked up a mini rose bush with pretty steely lavender flowers, and killed half of it in the trans plant. It is blooming 4 flowers now and I just like to look at it.

I love to sit in my living room with all the lights off and only candles burning, after I have cleaned, dusted and vacuumed. I feel like I have accomplished something and it is peaceful. Oh did I mention, I do this when the kids are not around?

I think that is all I can think of right now.

Oh yeah, something I have been doing for me for a long time now- blogging. I love it. It rocks.

World Breastfeeding Week.

A beautiful thing. 
I wouldn't call myself a breastfeeding Nazi. Either you are going to breastfeed your baby or you're not. I just wish more women would. It makes me sad to hear women say "it ties me down to the baby" or "No one else can feed the baby" or even the worst thing I have heard ever, and most flabbergasting: "I have a ton of milk I just don't want to deal with it." What a shameful waste. If more women would breastfeed more men would see what breasts are really for, and it wouldn't make people so darned squeamish. And for the religious out there: Hello~!? Jesus did not drink Similac Mary (and/or possibly a wetnurse) breastfed him.
When Ayman was 3 months old he refused to nurse anymore. I had been giving him bottles when we were in Egypt, because I had huge scabs on my nipples, and it was waaaaaay to painful to nurse, and expressing wasn't cutting it. By the time I could nurse again, he didn't want to. Long story short, my feelings were so hurt. I wanted to breastfeed him more, but he didn't want to do the work. I swore I wouldn't let that happen to my daughter. At first I was so tired and didn't feel like waking up to feed. But hey, either you are doing it with the breast, or you are pulling your tail out of bed, making a bottle, making sure it is the right temperature, sitting in the room with the baby and feeding her. I love breastfeeding. It is the perfect MRE (Meal ready to Eat, for those of you with no knowledge of military jargon.)So what I am saying here is think it thru. Believe in yourself and what a gift breastfeeding is. The longer you do it the better. Just do it.
Kristina visited and commented on my blog today. She had a great post that I want to share with you, so please check it out it had some great info, and some links to ridiculous stories that need to be seen to be believed. Thanks Kristin for stopping by, and for writing that post, the inspiration for this rant.
Ciao!

Pain pain p a I n

Well, I decided that a visit to the doctor was required. I tweeked out some ligaments in my knees. My Dr. gave me a cortisone shot and put me off of work for a couple of weeks (darn!) But I am kinda bummed. I was doing good. I will try more when I am better. I think I will have to start all over though. Oh well. It is all good.

Yesterday I went on a tour of the new Morman temple in Sacramento. It was kinds neat. and a little weird. I don't know how to really describe it. Ask a Mormon I guess. It was a good opportunity, since after the temple is dedicated you have to be a Mormon in good standing to get in there. Obviously, being Muslim, I am not going to get the opportunity again. It was beautiful and as I expected, the mormans were very nice. Plus I found out who the hornblower is on top of the spires. Cool.

So everything was going good.

I was running on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Then I get this idea, "hey why don't I try to wear these shoes to run? They are lighter."
Big mistake.
My knees are totally jacked up now. I mean seriously. I was hobbling around like an old woman at work last night. I had this brilliant idea on Wednesday. I haven't been able to run since. I am going to go back out on Monday though. I don't want to give up. I am a day behind in the training now, but I am still gonna try, no big deal, what is one day? Early this morning I finally broke down and took some Tylenol. Whew, I felt so much better after that. I don't think carrying around my 40 lb son helped matters either. Ayman is into tantrums right now, and has to be physically moved from place to place on occasion. It's fun! Screaming toddler, in public! Everyone should have one. So, to sum up, stupid shoe choice, knees hurt, on injured list until Monday.
Crap.

Guess who has an anniversary on Sunday?
Amr and I! Five years, 4 moves, 1 trip to Egypt together, 3 apart, an appendectomy (Amrs) Rotovirus (Aymans) 2 carthefts and 2 wallet thefts (mine) and, Two beautiful children. Time flies when you are having fun.

Amr and Cass, at Alex and Renees wedding, July 13th 2002.