مشاكس كبير

مشاكس كبير [mushaakis kabiir] - a very big "gets into everything" kind of person, used in describing little boys especially.

Noah is everywhere!!! This kid is all over the place!! He brings chaos to order, loud to quiet, and broke to non-broke.

I love having a little boy! This morning he was crawling across the floor chasing his ball and he finally cornered it by the bookshelf at the end of our couch [a place he had never seen before]. He looks up and sees all the books that we had been hiding from him. Instead of just tearing into them and throwing them all over the place, he stops.......

he looks at me with this "ohhhh...now I know" face, he smiles really big, and then rips into them scattering them all over the floor!! He had nearly digested half of one of my old journals before I got to him!!!

If he is crawling by something and they are stacked up, he knocks them over. If there is something on the table when he is standing next to it, he throws it off! He is going to destroy our house!! I love it. I spent most of the morning excited about building forts and playing Cowboys vs Indians, or Bedouin vs Turks, or Homeland Security vs Terrorists.

*the pics are meandering through some Roman ruins yesterday. We saw the place where Jesus cast the demons into the pigs, Lake Tiberius, and the church built by the Jerusalem Church after it fled persecution. My favorite pic is Noah with his police hat on.

2 Iraqis...

Tonight I saw

2 Iraqis* walk into a gun store......

I will leave you to think what you want to about that....

*EDIT: Iraqi Arabs. They were Iraqi Arabs. There is a big difference between the Kurds in the north and the Arabs. For those of you that know the difference.....

Charrefour Camera Mayhem!

I went into Charrefour (pronounced Car4 and is the French Version of Wal-Mart) and we were shopping and I was bored.

In my boredom I decided to take pictures of all the strange and/or exciting things I saw. Sadly enough, this is the only picture I got home with, because apparently, taking pictures inside Charrefour is not allowed.

Believe me, I know that now. I didn't know that then. I found out this was wrong by taking a picture of the "Washington Red Delicious Apples" in the produce section. I am serious!!! There were USA apples here and they looked good! So I took the picture with my phone and the entire produce section staff converged on me!

Sir, you need to delete that picture.
What?? Why?
It is forbidden to take pictures in here?
What?? Why?
It is a rule that you cannot take pictures.
What?? Why? (I was trying to wear him down.....it wasn't working. switch tactics)
Sir, I need to see you delete this picture.
But these are my apples.
What??
These are my apples. You see. From USA. Look at me. From USA. These are my apples.
Sir, I need to see you delete this picture.
But....
Sir, I need to see you delete this picture from your phone.
But, I was going to take this picture and send it to my mother. She loves apples from America. (This guy was cold hearted and not very patient)
SIR! YOU NEED TO DELETE THIS PICTURE FROM YOUR PHONE!!!
Okay, okay ان الله مع الصبرين (which is an Arabic proverb "Truly God is with the patient ones" he wasn't impressed)

So I am now trying to scroll through the pictures on my phone, with Johnny Mohammad and his staff looking over my shoulder and what does he see? All the other photos that I took of stuff in his store! I had to delete all of them! The only one that made it was this one of the off brand frosted flakes with the creepy IceCube Man dancing on it. (you can click on the pic to make it larger) But we can't figure out what it says. Is it "Funky Dz" or "Fun Kydz" or Funkyaz" We can't even read our own language.....things are getting bad really quick.

All this to say, "don't take a camera or take pictures in Carrefour. it ain't worth it!"

Spring is Here!!

Spring is here!!! It will be over next week, but in the meantime, here is Noah's spring attire.

Feed Me Your French Fries!!!!

This is Noah's "FEED ME YOUR FRENCH FRIES!!!" face, or any thing else for that matter!

Hey Blue! What Game You Watchin!?!

Anybody remember Signal? The Little League team that just wouldn't quit? Well, sadly enough, there is no Signal this year. I had several scheduling conflicts with several of the games so I am not coaching this year. Sad day.

BUT I am umpiring 4 or 5 of the coach-pitch games. Today I umped (umped...that can be made a verb, right?) It was great being back and seeing some of my old Signal kids. Some of them have grown up so big and some of them, you remember little Haitham right?, haven't grown a bit.

The game today was a blow out. I just shook the coach's hand after the game and told him that I understood completely. Hang in there.

Local Beef Rump Roast?

The other day B wanted to cook a roast, so we ran down to Safeway and picked up two kilos of "Local Beef Rump Roast." It didn't look like normal rump roast. It was really good, but it didn't taste exactly like normal rump roast either.

Then we got to thinking......We've been almost everywhere in this country and we've never ever seen a single cow.

Local Beef Rump Roast?

Local Beef?

It may one of those things where you just don't ask.

Recent Pics

Sorry about the quality of the pics lately, but since we've lost our camera we've been relying on my phone for pics. Here are two random pics from the month.

Me and Noah on the front porch.

B and Noah on top of a castle overlooking a valley

Once Shbaab, Always Shbaab

Shbaab - single, college to 20 something aged men.

Have you heard how Jeff Foxworhy describes shbaab apartments? It's a big, flat screen TV, surround sound, and a PlayStation sitting on cinder blocks and plywood with no couch or sofa, just bean bag chairs to sit in....

We had a friend here and he lived with two single Arabs. They had no hot water. The fridge had condensation build-up, so you had to cover you food when you put it in, because it was always raining inside the fridge. They didn't have a stove, just had a little Coleman camping cooking type thing. BUT they had a big TV and great surround sound.

Oh how we mad fun of him...

Today, B and I realized how much we are still like single college students though.

Picture this: We are out of trash bags. Trash is piled up all over the house and the smell is getting bad: BAD. Noah is down to one diaper: REAL BAD. Noah doesn't have any more wet wipes: REAL BAD. We are completely out of anything to eat. no meat. freezer is bare.

So we head to Safeway to get:
Trash Bags
Diapers
Wipes
Meat

We only have 22 dollars to our name.....

We grabbed the bags, diapers and wipes and we headed to the meat section when we passed them......

Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper! Dr. Pepper!
They don't have it very often and when they do it's a buck a can, but what did we do?

B and I each grabbed a can, looked at each other and said, "Well, you know, we don't actually need meat today.

So we each had a Dr. Pepper and a Snickers....

Life is good and we got out of there only spending 21.30 of our 22 dollars.

When You Need to Clear Up Traffic...

I know in America we aren't big on roundabouts. I think its a British thing that kindof caught on everywhere else but the States. Roundabouts, or circles, aren't that bad actually and I think they could work with the proper training of drivers and the right traffic flow, but that's off the topic.

This post is solely about me making fun of my university for its traffic control efforts....

The picture above is on campus and at a "T" intersection. No one ever comes this way. Note the number of cars crammed around that newly made circle. Also note how well built and sturdy said circle is.

If you are really interested in or want more information on the broke down, brand new circle; shoot me an email and I can send you a video of it in all its glory.

Punk Ain't Dead!

How can anyone say my kid doesn't have hair!?!

Things You See on a Picnic

Today was a beautiful day, so the family Bullion went on a picnic to one of the parks in town. We packed sandwiches, chips, drinks, and our handy dandy utility quilt (Thanks for the quilt, Gramma Roo. It's been the jewel in our picnicking experiences) and headed out.
Apparently we weren't the only family that had the idea, seeing as the park was full of people. So while we ate and relaxed under a tree (when I say "tree" don't think of the big huge live oaks that you used to play in as a kid. Think of a large, cultured bush and that may help your mental picture be a little more accurate). BUT while we laid under our large, cultured shrub, we were able to watch all the Arab families interact. Sadly enough we don't have pictures to validate these sights we are to tell you, but believe me, they were true and very funny.

1. Covered Lady Steals Skateboard - I saw a college age, fully covered girl (i think, she was college age, i mean, i couldn't really see her) chase down her brother, smack him on the head, steal his skateboard and take off down the hill on it.....


2. Traditional Dressed Man Playing Soccer - I saw a father, in a thobe and sandals, playing soccer with his kids. That is funny! Thobes don't make for good soccer uniforms.....

3. 2 Year Olds Race Down Hill on Tri-cycles, Big Sister Running Behind - A little boy and a little girl atop their Fisher Price Plastic Trikes raced as fast as they could down the hill, while the big sister was running to keep up. After they got there though they waited for big sis to catch up only to take off again at super sonic speed and make her run faster to catch them.......sadly enough, I see this event being part of my destiny in the next couple of years.....

That was our day at the park.

Noah's Smile: Blessing or a Curse

My son can move mountains with his smile. He smiles and the coldest heart melts. He smiles and the mean guy trying to make us pay 20 dollars in post office taxes changes to giving it to us for free. He smiles and mean traffic cops wave us by. This is the blessing of Noah's smile.

His beautiful smile also brings stress in our lives. The people that come and bang our car window and try to sell us junk, for example. They bang on the window. I tell them no. Then Noah smiles......so they stay and start with, "its good for the baby" or "see, the baby wants it." Paaalleeeeeeezzzz. No, the baby doesn't want it. The baby smiles at everything. Even when he wets himself. Go away!!
But do they care? NO. So they keep on and on and on and on until we have gypsies, street vendors, and beggar children gathered around the car trying to sell us junk. Why? Because the baby wants it. Because the baby needs it.

And what does Noah do?

Nothing. He just keeps on smiling.

Would I trade it for the world? No. But I am seriously thinking about some heavy duty window tinting....