I am so chagrined!!! My buddy Lynn just celebrated her 1st year anniversary of blogging with way over 300 entries - and here I am at a measly 81 for just about 3 years of blogging - guess this is a message to me that my life is indeed very very boring - LOL. I just do not have enough going on in my life to post every day - at least that is how I feel.

I did manage to get all my baking done - not that I needed to do any - as I surely do not need the calories - but it was my only concession to Christmas this year - did not even drag out one ornament or decoration to hang - did not even get my door decoration out. SIGH.

Christmas Day was spent cleaning and cooking as my 'family' had informed me that they were coming over for a visit. Made Tomato Bread, spinach dip, spanakopita and samosas - figured that I needed a few savouries to counteract all the sweets - may as well not have bothered - the savouries were barely touched - and the sweets were taken and left on the plates - so a lot of it went in the garbage. One thing was a hit - the tomato bread - Suzanne saw the loaves on the table and told me she wanted one - so I gave her one - she dug in right there and then - ripping it off and eating - and was quite amazed that it was good - as were the rest of the family. They operate under the belief that westerner's do not know to cook - from watching all the shows where people are usually ordering in. My BIL Mr. Mossad was quite nonplussed when he found out that all the baking was done in the house - imagine that - a westerner who can bake - amazing - like I got to this size by not knowing how to cook - go figure. My mother in law, 3 sisters in law, some of the kids and two of the brothers in law made an appearance - and they all came bearing gifts - feel bad about that - as I know that finances are tight with them. Aymn had sent Suzanne out with directions to buy me something to wear and she came with a vase - not to my taste - but such is life. It was a wonderful thought. Mom gave me 6 little bowls that will go nicely with the set of kitchen dishes that I have, Suzanne gave me two little vases filled with potpourri, Shereen gave me a little clock and Gehan gave me a home made candle and some warm slippers - all much appreciated. I was also fortunate to receive phone calls from my parents and my cousin Maurine - made my day. Had heard from Miles a few days earlier - he called me at 11:30 p.m. - I did not get out of bed to answer the phone - was nice and toasty under the covers - did not want to crawl out - usually calls that late are wrong numbers - figured if the person really wanted to talk to me they would call on my cell phone - which is what he finally did. We chatted for about 35 minutes - they are doing well - headed out to Banff to spend the holiday with her family.

Boxing Day my friend Margaret came over and we had a wonderful visit - put the spinach dip and bread out as well as all the other goodies - she enjoyed the grazing. She was in a very good mood as she had been reunited with her kitten - who had been catnapped a few weeks prior - likely about 3 weeks - she had given up hope - but thank goodness somebody was honest and returned him - looking a bit worse for wear - in an attempt to disguise the cat - called Tootoose - they had done a really bad haircut - trimmed the hair on his tail until the actual tail was showing through - poor thing. But he seems to be recovering from his ordeal. Margaret made me a really great apron - nice and large - with great pockets - it is very colourful - the trim anyway - wonder why she did that??????

Went out this past Wednesday with Suzanne to the local produce market - love that produce is fresh and so inexpensive. Bought a kilo of straweberries for 3 LE, 2 kilos of tomatoes for 3 LE, 1 kilo of fresh green beans for 1 LE, a kilo of cucumbers for 3 LE, a bunch of what I am hoping is swiss chard for .25 LE, a kilo of bananas for 3.50 LE, a kilo of tangerines for 1.5 LE, head of lettuce for 1 LE, a bunch of romaine lettuce for .75 LE and one eggplant - weighed in at 1 kilo for 1 LE. Came home with two bags of fruit and veggies for under 20 LE (which is equivalent to about $4 CAN). Unfortunately other things are not so cheap - meat is about the same price as it is in Canada - which makes it pricey.

New Years Eve was spent by myself - my friend Wafaa invited me out after she finished working - but I do not like heading out after 9 - at least not driving - and I did not think it fair to invite her to my place as she does not live all that close. She had also come for a very short visit on Christmas Day - brought me some body lotion (much appreciated) and some Ferrero Rocher - still not opened. It is sitting there tempting me - I need to put it away and 'forget' that I have it. I have put the baking away - but have yet to forget where I put it - LOL.

New Years Day - Thursday sawa Sharon and I headed to a store called Alfa - it is located at a mall called Green Plaza - I have been to Green Plaza many times but never made it to Alfa - so after we paid our phone bills - mine was 93.55 LE for 3 months - very low as I was out of the country for 2 months - we headed to Green Plaza - and thankfully found Alfa Market to be open - it was only around 9:30 and most grocery stores do not open until 10 - traffic was really light - and we went to pay the phone bill early so that we would not have to contend with line ups. Line ups in this country are an unpleasant experience. Alfa had some interesting things - a few things that are not found in the other stores but the prices are a lot higher - ended up getting a few things - some spices and some hot dogs that I have trouble finding - and of course went to Carrefour after and they had them - SIGH - and they were a bit cheaper - oh well win some lose some.

Yesterday I did a bit and I mean a very little bit of weeding in the garden. One drawback to living in this 'warm' climate - is the weeds never stop and also have been bitten by a mosquito - of all the nerve - don't they know it is winter. Wonder where they are coming from - maybe from the water that is pooling on the balcony. Aymn got 'bright' and put concrete in the drainage pipe - although he claims it was not him - hmmm - wonder who it was. At the one drainage pipe he put up a dam - which I broke so the water can flow down when it is raining. I refuse to try to get the concrete out of the pipe - he can do it when he finally shows up - just hope that the people below me do not get a wet ceiling - although at this point I really do not care - they refuse to assist in figuring another way to get the water drained off the balcony and when it rains a lot the water drains out of the rose garden - much to the chagrin of Suzanne - she told me that her clothes got dirty even after it had quit raining - told her to take it up with Aymn - he was the bright spark who did not bother to fill up the drain spout that is located in the rose garden - so when it rains a lot or the garden gets overwatered the water drains out and down onto everyone's laundry that has it hung up.

Today I got up with the intention of doing some Yoga and after I finally got to it - realized that I am so out of shape - OMG - no way can I do any of the floor work - I would end up flat on my face if I tried to do the 'dog' - so I did a few things - and then had breakfast. My day got off to a late start because Aymn was online and we chatted for a while. I have now showered and need to get busy and make some more pita bread and some eggplant parmesan - was hoping to find Suzane Somer's recipe for it - but was unable to - so will have to go from memory. Need to work at eating more sensibly - which is a real challenge to me - I do not do well cooking for one - cannot see the sense - but I need to work on it so that I can do the Yoga and more.

That is my life in a nutshell - will try to post on a more regular basis.