Wow the End is Near

It's hard to believe but the year will soon be over. So what has the last year been like? Mostly I stay at home working on the computer to keep my sanity. Doing my genealogy is great at distracting me from a otherwise dull existence. We finally got another car-yeah a car not a suv or a truck as I had wished for but a Ford Taurus that thankfully will seat 6 people. But for me that didn't change much. I'm still at home as the son needs the car for school and when he is home its time to cook dinner. If I am really in the mood I will go out on Sunday with the hubby to do any shopping that requires my attention. I gave up on grocery shopping its a run in and out and "what do we need that for" experience and even when I do need something I have to have a good reason for it.

I'm thinking about going back to school next year for study in Medical Assisting. I found a program for 350 for 11 weeks evening classes twice a week. I want it more for me and my knowledge than to actually get a job. I have to wait and see if our elementary school is going calendar next year or not.

The kids are working on their braces. Khadijah maybe has a year left and Aieysha has just started by getting the metal bands that will hold her rubber bands. I need to find a way to pay for 11 teeth to be pulled between her and Suhayb and at a cost of 3600 I don't know how. That is a salary for a month lately.

We lost our health insurance this month too. Tell me how a company looks at one month to decide if you qualify as poor? Most months this year Hubby has made around 3-4000 if we are lucky. With the car accident we are now faced with a larger car payment and lost money having to pay off what we owed on the Subaru. He found a good deal but now our payments are double what we were making and with two accidents our rates have gone up too. Any way I reapplied for medical assistance and they sent me all this stuff that I had to do to prove identities and income and such. Also now that the oldest is 18, we could loose coverage for him. They were upset that he was not graduating this year, well I am too but why deny a child medical because of that? He is back on Honor Roll and he will finish the first quarter of next year. Seeing that our paycheck was not enough to cover the new expenses Hubby asked for his vacation pay and that put us over the limit for a family of seven. So they denied us and now I got to hustle to reapply before Fatimah needs medicines again. One month is only 800 we can afford that, right.....

We were invited to a wedding for a young man at Hubby's work last month and he actually asked me if I wanted to go. Hey its a night out even if its all the family. I warned them ahead of time if they didn't want to go they could stay home, I didn't want to hear it that they were bored or tired. Hubby was working but said he would take off in time(yeah right) to attend the wedding party. Well the girls and I started early as I had been over a year since we had worn a dress and pulled out all the dresses from my closet that I had left. Khadijah was easy she had bought a dress in Libya that still fit but she wanted ringlets in her hair. Aieysha was harder, she had lost some weight but not enough to fit in any of the nice dresses I had. I have some that I wore like 10 years ago still in my closet and thankfully one fit her. We even curled her hair a bit and added a clip. I finally found one I could fit in and that wasn't to unbecoming of a older lady and put my hair up in a bun. We were set. Suhayl wore a suit and Suhayb and Fatimah wanted to stay home. At the last minute Fatimah wanted to go so I had to scramble to find her an outfit. We put on our abayahs and headed out the door. We arrived at the Hotel and were sadden to find that it was going to be a mixed party. If I had known that I would have stayed home or at least dressed in Jeans under my Abayah. Khadijah was almost in tears so I finally let her take her Abayah off. We were the first to arrive and sat alone for a bit at one of the tables off to the side of the room. All evening was "were is Taher"? Working! I finally reached him and he was on his way. You mean you didn't change your mind and just want to go home.. He arrived and on seeing the set up he wanted to leave. Oh NO, you are sitting here for a bit this is your friend not mine, I don't know most of these people. They served dinner finally and I had a plate of bloody roast beef sat before me. NO way take it back and when it stops mooing bring it back. They did but it was still mooing! Ok so now I'm hungry and bored. The music was too loud and in a mixed group no way was I going to have the opportunity to dance so we just sat there. Fatimah was for once my break. She was getting tired and we were all hungry still so I told him I was leaving and taking the kids home to tell his friend thanks for the invite and he could stay for a bit. He didn't want to but he had just arrived and his friends had been asking for him all night.

He came home later saying that the couple was mad we didn't stay and dance. Sorry I don't do mixed unless they are family. There was not one person there I was related to except for my kids. Funny and when Hubby went to say hello to the couple she said she doesn't shake hands with men, but you dance in front of them? I do have to admit her gown was nice it was very islamic but still a wedding gown. I told Taher that it will not be too long and this will be us preparing for the weddings of our kids. We talk about the choices of wives or husbands available here. He wants a Libyan for his kids. Oh yeah a kid who has been raised in the USA all their life goes to Libya to take a spouse. I would like it too but lets be realistic.

The girls have another concert this week for Band and I hope to remember to take the camera. Other than that my life is the same. Eid is coming and I don't remember when was the last time he actually went and killed a lamb for Eid. The boys last went when Suhayl was 5 I think. Let's keep those traditions strong now! Last year we couldn't afford one so we didn't get a lamb. We got a half of a cow earlier this year and as usual it was chopped to pieces and bones everywhere. Nothing recognizable to call a steak or such. So it was bagged and he and the kids eat it mostly as I have had too much trouble with my teeth this year. I got three yanked out a few days before Thanksgiving. I am finally seeing a dentist but with the other kids and our bills lately I can't do too much at any given time. I'll keep with chicken and fish.

Well I guess I have caught you up with my year. I always hope that the next year is better but I don't know I guess I just give up sometimes. Thank God for my computer and genealogy work. Pouring over census records from the 1700's keeps me sane. And I have now found a bunch more relations that we didn't know we had. No close ones yet but hopefully I will find some soon. Trying to prove someone existed is a bit harder than you think. I was thinking this week, census is done every ten years. Yet, since I have been married I have not been a part of one. Glad my stuff is online now as there would be a difficult time proving we existed! I'm still having trouble proving that my parents existed. But when the 1940 census records are out hopefully they will be there. See you all next year if I don't stop in before that. The photos I added are the kids the day of the wedding and a photo of my grandparents when they were young. Grandma was such a beautiful woman.