Carrefour turbulence and a chaotic house

Yesterday was turbulent. It was the culmination of a very hectic time. About once a month we hit some kind of chaotic climax. We’ll be so busy for a while that the house work becomes completely neglected – floors are dirty, stuff – books, toys, clothes, tools, and God knows what - is laying around everywhere, laundry has piled up, the kitchen is heading towards disaster, and we have no food, not a scrap, to eat. If it’s a very bad time, the house will be in this state for a couple of days. We’ll simply order out, or go out to eat, and whatever we absolutely can’t live without, like milk, we’ll get across the street at the Shell shop.

These past couple of weeks have been frantic in that a lot of different things have been going on, all the while we’ve tried to be a bit more social. Yesterday we could not go any longer however without a big shopping and clean-up. Because we needed a lot of cleaning products and a few other special things we decided to bite the bullet and go to Carrefour; due to the chaos in our house, we didn’t end up leaving until after lunch. When we got there, we could hardly believe our eyes; it was busier than during Ramadan! Why? We couldn’t really tell, except there were a lot of signs with low prices on them, so I assume it was some kind of sale. I started picking out some of the things we had specifically come to Carrefour for. We had to push our way through the packed aisles; big families, groups of men with several carts, screaming babies, kids, grocery workers with huge crates – it was busy! After having spent a long time looking at a new computer for Courtney (his old one died a few days ago), we decided to leave with what we had. We were tired, hungry, thirsty, hot, and frustrated. To top it off, we got a real asshole taxi driver who tried to way overcharge us, and wouldn’t stop arguing until Courtney yelled at him. When we got back home the boys had Taekwondo, and we still had no food! While Courtney took the boys, I went shopping at a quiet Seoudi with Abraham. Well at home, I threw together a yummy shrimp dish, put a bottle of white in the freezer, and started the clean-up (which is still going today). We had a nice Valentine’s dinner, Courtney managed to restore all his lost files on his new computer and prepare his classes. Granted, Abraham got a hold off and ate more than half of a Kinder chocolate bar, wrapper and all, I forgot to check the washer before I started it and washed, along with the clothes, 1/ a memory stick, 2/ a bottle of baby shampoo, and 3/ a balloon. Today the boys & I are alternating schoolwork with house work, and I’m slowly getting through all that needs to be done. I still can’t find my cell phone to charge, and because it’s our of battery I can’t call it to locate it. It will show up, though, eventually. I’m still in desperate need of a shower, but at least we have shampoo now, which significantly increases my chances of washing my hair. And the really good news is, especially for those of us who had Valentine’s chocolates, there’s toilet paper again!