We Are The Littles

Well, it’s almost 1am here and I just finished packing up. Unfortunately I’ll be waking up in a mere 4 hours but at least I’m going home. The big big bossman from Lagos was here all day today and he was pleased with everything which makes me feel good. He keeps saying he’ll be working for me one day which makes me feel even better. Guess I haven’t screwed things up too bad (despite some seriously rough ass-chewings over the last 5 weeks!).

I’m heading out tomorrow afternoon on the 5pm flight to Lagos. I’ll be staying at the bossmans house for the night and then I’m on the 11am flight from Lagos to Atlanta. Home sweet home here I come.

As for the new house, our financing is basically done and the owner has pretty much repaired everything. I’ve been arguing a little bit with the seller’s realtor, pretty much because she seems to be as dumb as a rock and it makes me feel better. I don’t think I’ve been out of line though. She’s just not smart and it gets on my nerves.

So there you have it. I should be landing Thursday night around 11pm. It will be great to be home again. Adios until next time.

Story one happened today. Since last Monday I moved into the bossman’s office for a little more privacy. My office has windows facing the interior and everyone can see me inside and what I’m doing so I moved out. Anyway, I’m sitting in the big man’s office this afternoon when a bunch of people from the Rivers State Committee on Public Complaints come barging in. They had just had a long drawn-out shoutfest with our CLO (Community Liaison Officer) and they were not happy. They wanted money. Anyway, the first guy comes through the door and is a Sergeant in the Nigerian military. He wasn’t in uniform, but he had this scowl on his face and looked pretty pissed. Then come the other 4 guys along with our CLO. So, the first thing I notice when they come barging in is that the Sergeant has his pointer finger on his right hand in his nose and is trying to pick a winner. The first thing that goes through my mind… I’m not shaking this guys hand. So I moved on to another fellow and introduced myself to him and then moved the conversation on. I never did have to shake the Sergeants booger-infested hand. I wouldn’t have done it anyway and I’m sure that would have set them off even more. Anyway, after a brief conversation they left. No money was exchanged but their not done with their hostile tactics yet. They’ll be back… But I won’t be here!

Story two took place a week or so ago. Another community (by the way, communities are pretty much organized gangs that control one area) heard we were putting in a swimming pool at the bossman’s house. They apparently thought they were owed money for us to have this privilege. Unfortunately for them we know they aren’t the community that controls that property and we paid our “dues” to the right community years ago. So, the community trying to shake us down threatened to tie a coffin to the front gate of the bossman’s compound and not let anyone in or out. When they do this, they decorate the coffin with fierce colors and make a big to-do out of it. It’s pretty much the equivalent of a Louisiana-style gris-gris or VooDoo for everyone else. The theory behind the coffin… The person or persons staying there will die and the coffin will carry them into the afterlife. FYI - remember at the beginning of this hitch I was staying at the bossman’s house because my internet was down? It’s the compound with the turkeys. It’s that compound they were putting the gris-gris on. Luckily I’ve been back at my place for weeks now. Anyway, there are normally three expats staying there in three different houses. The funny part is that two of the expats are gone and the only one left is one guy from India. So, if the gris-gris worked guess who was going to be riding the coffin into the afterlife? Of course I teased the Indian fellow about it but it never came to that. They never followed through with their threats.

Speaking of turkeys, there were three baby turkeys and now there is only one left plus momma and poppa turkey. The first one died and nobody knows how. The second one died late last week. It was underneath one of the vehicles… Hopefully the remaining one will make it to turkey adulthood.

So, this is probably my last entry until I get home. I can’t get out of here quick enough. See you stateside!

Technorati Tags: Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Work, Story, Coffin, Voodoo, Gris-Gris, Turkeys

Yay! It is my turn to write my very first post on We Are The Littles dot com. I am so proud of our new site and the way my hubby designed it. He is really good at this stuff.

Okay, so I have a hodge podge of stuff to write about. I read a massive amount of magazines this weekend. I am trying to conserve my books, so I decided to read old magazines I had not gotten to yet. I found some interesting points to ponder, so I thought I would share them with you.

Coming from the March 2008 edition of Redbook’s Red-Hot Topic: Push Presents

I found this one particularly interesting. The topic starts,

Some doting hubbies, grateful for all their wives endured during pregnancy, honor them with “push presents”-diamonds, designer clothers, etc. Is this ritual the perfect reward? Or is a healthy baby the only gift moms need?

You can imagine the responses. They ranged from “gimme a gift” to “that’s pushing it!”. What do you all think and did any of you get “push presents”? And do you all think it would be okay for a mom to get, oh let’s just say, stainless steel kitchen appliances as “push presents”?

Here are some more from Parenting Magazine, February 2008

34% of Parenting Magazine Readers admitted to punishing one child more than the other when their kids fought (wow, talk about favoritism)

When asked if kids under 12 should have cell phones, 21% of their readers said yes and 79% said hell, no. I mean no.

69% of their readers confessed to telling their kids more than one little white lie a day (now, i find this really hard to believe)

When asked who gave them the most UNWANTED advice, they responded, 34% strangers, 31% mother in law (not mine, she is awesome), 18% mother, 12% friends, and 5% siblings.

According to a major study cited by PM that included 28 countries (U.S. participated), husbands do less housework than live-in boyfriends. (not so in this household)

According to PM, it is harder for their readers to give up their baby clothes that their children have outgrown (64%) than clothes they may never fit into again (36%)

Finally, in their Smart Solutions section, people were actually clueless enough to need help with the following situations:

1) I gave my friend my old baby stuff and I just found out that I am pregnant, too! Can I ask for it back?

uhm, I have only a one worded response, TACKY!

2) My 3-year old cheats on every game we play. How do I teach her it is wrong?

uh, duh. tell her you will not play any games with her until she stops cheating!

Okay, sound off if you will…. Man, the world gives us so much material to keep us entertained!

Welcome to the new and improved Gabe & Carolina Little website. We decided to can the one-site-each approach and go for the one-stop-shop approach. Make sense? You can still see our old sites for a short while at their old addresses. However, once the domains run out they will cease to exist at Gabelittle.com & Carolinalittle.com. But do not fret my stalkish friends, our sites will live on forever at their new address. Links to our old sites are on the right-hand side under “Blogroll” and you can find them below:

The old Gabelittle.com is now http://www.wearethelittles.com/gabelittle

The old Carolinalittle.com is now http://www.wearethelittles.com/carolinalittle

So, I guess this site will be about family, friends, sports, cakes, travel, tech, gadgets, cooking, moving, trying to be thrifty, and just how all around good looking I am. Sounds interesting doesn’t it?

I’ve spent pretty much my entire Saturday moving the sites over, fixing them back up, and making sure they work. The hardest part, hands down, was trying to find a theme that we would both like. This big, bright, in your face theme was the best I could do. All of the others were either too techy, too girlie, or too something else.

So, since I’ve worked so hard I expect good things from you all. Lots or writing by MBM, lots of comments by the stalkers, and lots of pictures and videos from me.

Speaking of videos, I thought this one would be appropriate. Enjoy!

P.S. - The comment link is at the bottom of the post instead of at the top like the other one. Click-it and comment!