~yowzers

August 20, 2017

Cleaning Day/with Incident!

I think I've mentioned that it takes me about 6 1/2 hours to clean our little apartment!  

To speed up the process I decided that while I was cleaning our bathroom I would take a short cut. There is a large window that is the hardest to clean with bars covering it from the top to the bottom. After I painstakingly cleaned it I remembered that I could use the toilet spray to rinse it off!  I 
squirted it down (from across the room) and as I was walking back to the window to dry it off, I took a flying leap and fell onto the floor. I broke my toe and hurt everything else (including my feelings)! As life would have it, I was looking at those same bars the next day and realized that there is a hinge on the panel that makes it easy to just open and clean the windows ~ Good Grief!  

This is how many dust bunny's are gathered in just a weeks time ~ go figure?
Did I ever give my commercial about this mop?  I LOVE IT! It is the best ever!
Side note: Billy bought me this exact one at Christmas time when we were back in the States!
I am excited to go home and clean (which is a first 😉)!  They now sell them at Walmart for $40
($24 here in Cambodia but getting it home would definitely be a problem)!

~creepy monster, sleepy monster

Fun Time in the Nursery!!!

Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters

by Jane Yolen (Goodreads Author),

Kelly Murphy (Goodreads Author)(Illustrator)

~"a" you're adorable

Hangin’ In The Nursery~

"A" you're adorable, "B" you're so beautiful,

"C" you're a cutie full of charms.

"D" you're a darling and "E" you're exciting,

And "F" you're a feather in my arms.

"G" you look good to me, "H" you're so heavenly,

"I" you're the one I idolize.

"J" we're like Jack and Jill, "K" you're so kissable,

"L" is the lovelight in your eyes.

"M" "N" "O" "P" I could go on all day.

"Q" "R" "S" "T" alphabetically speaking, you're OK.

"U" made my life complete, "V" means you're very sweet,

"W" "X" "Y" "Z. '.

It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you

To tell you what you mean to me.
 

This song was originally posted at:

http://bussongs.com/songs/youre-adorable.php

~cambodia international branch

August ~ Nov 2016

Cleaning day at the Church.  

Once a month we go with other members to clean the church. 

  I head for the 2 upstairs bathrooms and hallway.  

I like that they have toilet sprays as I can 

scrub it all down, spray it all, then dry it all off. 

Sasha (Evans) is my partner!

Sasha Evans is out here for 2 years teaching at the Canadian School! 

She was in our Hill Cumorah cast team in 2005.  

We saw her our first Sunday here and it has been so 

much fun having a friendly, fun, familiar face around! 

   

Mean, clean, scrubbing machine. 

I may have mentioned before but I love these 

mops and containers.  They are the best!

 Our little Branch

Devona (Jackson), Janis (Nielsen), Jamie (Matthews)

Devona and I Visit Teach Janis each month.

A fun group photo with our newly baptized member,

~back in the saddle again

We broke down and rented Moto's after our 
Tuk Tuk Driver got tired of going out to the Farm each day.

PINK LIGHTNING     and          FIREBOLT

I had a little run-in with another Scooter.  I made a sharp left and kind of collided with another Moto.  Fortunately, everyone goes fairly slow so there was not more damage than a bruised leg!!  I learned that "merging" is a must!!!

~is it you

fresh off the boat~

I got into a huge argument (almost physical ~ but I was pretty 

sure I could take him) with a Tuk-Tuk driver over the fare.  He
wanted an outrageous amount of money ($8) for a round-trip
ride because I was a foreigner he felt like I didn't know better.
I gave him what I knew it should have been
($5 ~ and I literally did not have anymore money on me). 

Are you my mother Tuk-Tuk Driver?

He wouldn't take my money so finally after 3 minutes of going
back and forth I put the money behind him on the Tuk-Tuk ledge
and walked off.  He ran after me and grabbed my arm (I had 
just reached our security gate), I turned around and swatted his
hand off me and then the yelling began.  He put his finger a
centimeter away from my face and said (yelled) some choice words
(I am assuming) and he really did look a little evil and crazed
(Billy thinks he probably had been drinking). I asked him (yelled),
"Do you want to fight, do you want to fight me?".  He kept yelling
and pointing but also glancing behind me over my shoulder
(but I didn't dare turn around to see what he was looking at).  

Too Young?

Not the right color Tuk-Tuk

Finally, I backed away from
him (on the other side of the gate, which he could not come
into) and turned around. There,
behind me, was a Scandinavian
man and woman (both 6ft tall)
and I quickly walked over to
them.  It was them who he was
glancing at and they were my
little (tall) guardian angels!!  I
talked with them for a moment
and they commiserated with
me. I then went upstairs (still
shaking just a bit) to the 
haven of my home. 

Tuk-Tuk Gang

When Billy came home I told the story to him and he told me I 
had to be more careful as the guy could have pulled a knife on me -
oops, hadn't thought of that. So I stayed in our apartment for the
next 2 days so the evil Tuk-Tuk driver (and his gang) would give
up stalking me (just kidding, it isn't that dangerous). 

I Made His Day

Then on Sunday I put on my "bug" glasses and my helmet and got on my 

scooter and eased out - I had a fiver in my pocket and had decided to find 

Mr Tuk-Tuk and give it to him because I really don't want to be the one that 

causes someone else to have an angry heart (even if I didn't think I was wrong). 

Hindsight, I wish I could have told him to wait until Bill got home and paid him 

at least $1 more (or maybe more) but the communication barrier works against 

me and my brain wasn't quit there either.  Anyhoooo, I saw someone who 

looked like him and went over and touched my heart with my hand, said I was 

sorry and gave him $5 (I didn't have any ones and didn't think I could ask for 

change!).  Well, I am pretty sure this guy was NOT the same Tuk-Tuk driver 

(but I certainly made that guys day and he  could now take the rest of the day off).  

Wrong Country

Now I just always carry $3 in my pocket in case I see him
(or someone else that looks like him), that way I will always 
be prepared to give it to him.  I've also decided to never wear 
my cute pink headband ever again (or my bright pink top), 
while in Cambodia, since that was what I was wearing that 
fateful night (just in case he sees me first and comes after me)!  
It is interesting too as the next week there was a security truck 
in front of our building so maybe that has scared him off as well.  

It's not You, it's Me

It was a good lesson for me in so many ways - first off, I 
used to get a little crazy (mad) while driving on my scooter.  

I thought, "These people are INSANE drivers".  

But after this incident (and Billy telling me the story about 
how one of Kenny's friends pounded on a car hood of a driver 
that was cutting him off [been there, done that] and the driver got
out of his car and punched Kenny's friend in the eye), I decided 
that this is their country and the way they drive works for them.
So I’ve adopted the motto "if you can't beat em, join em"!!
So now I understand the rhyme to their reason and I don't 
get angry anymore while driving!  I just expect everyone 
to drive crazy and I just go with the flow!!!  It has made 
me have a happy loving heart (and is the last step of my 
"12 step driving program in Cambodia").

~1st step . . . denial

I have taken at least a million pictures of the (what I thought of as) contumelious traffic here in Cambodia. I’ve come up with 12 reactions a 
person will experience as they encounter the flood of movement as they 
travel in this remarkable country . . . . . The 1st is DENIAL!

I mean, I really, really cannot believe that the whole country hasn’t been injured while on the streets of Cambodia.  It is total chaos and everyone just . . . goes.  They seem to travel in their different modes of transportation as if they are the only ones on the road.  No one stops at the stop signs (the few that they have) or at any intersection even if it is a side street going onto a major street.  At the few stoplights that are in place (at some of the major intersections) when the driver sees that they only have 3 seconds till their light turns green they all start moving into the intersection (while the light is still RED).  The masses are what control the traffic not the other way around.  If you plan on getting across the street (as seen in the picture above) you just ease out with the other vehicles that are going your way and move on out!  It just doesn’t seem possible that there are not accidents on every single road every single day.  It really truly is hard to believe - 
bottom line ~ it IS unbelievable!!!

We’ve hired SeNahn to be our TukTuk driver for 

the Month.  He is super sweet and simply wonderful. 
Each time we would stop and Bill would run into a shop, 

SeNahn would try to teach me some new Khmer words 

(more like reteach me the words I already learned but 

that I am pronouncing incorrect).  He is great!!  

~milk, anyone?

August 2016

When Billy travels he locates and goes to places that sell milk products; getting some ideas of how we can improve Moo Moo Farms once we expand!  Here are 2 places at Bonanza Plaza Shopping Center and Siam Square, both in Thailand!