Family Vacation!

   I got my ticket yesterday and will be landing in Boise, Idaho, September 9th at 11 PM! It was pretty hard to make the desicion but Ryan helped me out a lot by telling me to think about it like it was a family vacation and not that I was leaving him behind. Looking at it in a different perspective is exactly what I needed to do because now I can't freaking wait to get there!
   I will be in Idaho for about a month so I will have plenty of time to see everyone and meet all of your newest family members, as lots of you have had babies! I will first be going to Twin to be with my family there but after that I will head up for a weekend up in Boise to go bar hoping, hit up piehole late at night and go support the hungry strippers. Then I will post pictures of myself drunk for Michelle, because she has some kind of obsession of those lately. Awe the joys Boise has to bring!
   No really, not doing any of that but having a couple beers with my Boise buddys sounds like a blast maybe I could see some of my cousins too. I might get a tattoo there though, I am feeling really home sick, got to get my potato. Oh and hopefully the rivers are still open!
   While down in Twin I plan on crafting. My sister is going to teach me how to knit, so Beau is getting a sweater :) and we are going to re-cover some chairs and sew some baby goodies for our cousins. She got a new house and wants to show it to me and let me stay there, that should be nice.
   Then we are going to go out to my Grandma's house and get my car but also I want to learn how to can veggies and make pickles and jam. Maggie wants to learn how to make curtains and since the curtains I made were, well crap, we figure we better learn from some one who knows what they are doing. Plus when you go out to my Grandma's house you always can be certain that you will have a meal that you will remember for years later as being the best meal you ever tasted.
   I also want to get some Mexican food while I am there. Real Mexican food is hard to come by in Alabama and even harder in Abu Dhabi, I need a taco wagon ASAP, like if someone was to hand me a carne asda taco with TONS of cilantro when I get off the plane that would be better than a bag of money.  I am going to share my gumbo with my family, its real southern and should be something that even my dad wont complain about.
   So basically I can't wait to see everyone! If you don't have my phone number look it up on facebook, its in my info or just message me on there because I wont have service until I land in Chicago. Kat, I don't think I will be able to see you there because my lay over is only three hours, I am sorry :( I will see you sometime soon though, no worries!

Sewing

   Dear sewing machine,
 I miss you. We had some good times together but didn't get to try everything out. When I get you back we will make button holes, that should be fun right? I have a lot of projects lined up for us to try out together, I think we will also try and make some clothes. Its just too bad that most of the clothing projects I think I can do are for summer.

SHIT! SHIT EVERYWHERE!!!

   CAUTION: THOSE WITH WEEK STOMACHS SHOULD PROCEED WITH, WELL, CAUTION? 

   

   I have not had a reason to play with my phone in over five months as it does not have service out here, Ryan still finds reason for his but me, I just don't know why I would even have one if I can't text and make calls. So my phone stays in the drawer in the bed side table for weeks at a time, collecting dust and staying out of harms way. 

   About a month or so after Ryan and I got here my phone went missing. Ryan shared his opinion with me how he doesn't understand what is about girls losing their phones and how its, "never their fault." I swear though, it was not my fault. I knew I did not take it out of my room and I knew it should have been under the bed where I left it... lol. 

   We looked for the next couple of weeks and had no luck finding it so I asked lost and found. I described it as having a sticker on the back that said, "there's a party in your tummy." The man looked at me like I was crazy but came back with my phone in hand. The screen was broken and I asked them where they found it, they said it was in my room? Yes, the story that I told Ryan was correct, someone took my phone out of my room and broke it. Not my fault. 

Broken screen and the rest of phone, now used for parts.

   Ryan got a new phone while we were here and gave me his old one, which is exactly like the one I had that got broken. So I took that phone and placed it in my bed side table for extra safe keeping. Ryan told me about an app to put on my phone and so I did. 

   When it had loaded I decided to go play with it while I was in the bathroom, as I thought this would be an exciting app. Well it turns out it wasn't so I put my phone in my pocket and finished my business. When I pulled up my pants, my damn phone fell into the toilet bowl! Floating with my floaters! Still on, flashing its battery light at me, covered in poo water... I thought for a split second whether or not it was worth it to grab the phone but decided it really wasn't my phone to not save. 

My phones death portal 

   It was so gross! How do you clean a phone when you are trying not to get it anymore wet? Dear god why!? I took it apart, took out the battery and washed it with soap and the hottest water setting, it burned. Then I got the the Absolut Vodka, traveler's exclusive, spiced with coffee and almond and rubbed my phone down with that and cotton swobs. I dried it with a towel and laid out all of the parts on some tissue. After that I poured the vodka on my hands and light them on fire to insure that all of the poop germs were killed. 

You have to get crafty when you live in a hotel and don't have rubbing alcohol on hand. On the plus side, my phone smells like coffee and almonds.

   I have not had a phone in so long that I forgot my number one rule about phone safety; never put your phone in your pocket when going to the bathroom.  I have had to fish my phone out of the toilet before (luckily it was just water) because of this mistake which is why I always take my phone out of my pocket and place it on the counter or on top of the toilet paper holder, when in a public bathroom. I shall not be forgetting this lesson anytime soon as this time it was not just water from a toilet but actually something far, far worse...
   If this ever happens to you and I hope it never does, make sure to take your battery out and completely take apart your phone, drying and cleaning every part of it you can. Place it in a bag of rice over night to pull extra moisture from it and only after a full 24 hours, if not longer, can you put your battery back it and try turning it back on.

Phone is now drying out on tissue papers after being scrubbed with soapy water and lots of vodka. Good thing we have more of these phones at home, might have enough parts to make a non-poop phone. 

   Thousands of phones die like this each year, please don't let this happen to you. Also, don't ask to borrow my phone...

Awkward Elevator Ride.

   I went down to the business center to see how much it was to print out some things. Okay, so I wanted to print out coupons, I just don't know when I will need them okay!? Anyway its about .50 cents per page and I needed a password to get on the computer so I just gave up that quickly.
   On my way back to my room I shared an elevator with a man dressed in the traditional white robe, dress thing but I can't assume he is Muslim. He asked where I was from and I hesitated and told him, "The U.S." Ryan would have been so disappointed... I am suppose to tell everyone I am from Canada as they are not in war with countries that surround me.
   The man did not take his eyes off of my arm as he smiled and to acknowledge he knew where that was. He was looking at my tattoos. I don't know if not wearing sleeves or if it was because he had formally introduced himself but he felt it was okay to now go ahead and touch my arm. He tried rubbing off my tattoo and testing the authenticity of it in a way. Looking up at me, my arm in his hands, with so many questions behind his eyes, like a curious child.
   This is not something that is new to me. Everyone touches my arm or stops me to ask where I got it done, always looking disappointed when I tell them its over 14,000 km away. They are all very flattering and I am now pretty confident that I can reveal my tattoos as long as I don't mind someone touching them.

What Do I Do?

   Ryan and I have been in Abu Dhabi forever, or since March but still thats a very long time. The company has told him that he would be leaving at the end of July, after that passed they said either mid or the end of August, well we have passed the mid point and there is news. A new hire is getting all of is papers and shots and what not that he needs to be over here sometime next week. The bad news is that he is replacing someone else.
   The other bad news is that this guy is a new hire, which means he is going to need training, which takes a long time so its looking like until that guy is trained Ryan will have to stay. I can go any time I want to but its really hard to leave when I don't know where to go or how long Ryan will be here.
   I don't know wether to go to Alabama and wait for Ryan there because we will go to Idaho for the next job or to go to Idaho and be with my family and get my car and Beau because the next job might not be Idaho? Or, do I stay here with Ryan and just wait it out? I have made it this far right? There is absolutely nothing sure about this job what-so-ever. Its a gamble, any and all choices that you make.
   Not only is it hard to stay here but its hard to leave because I will be leaving Ryan and the thought of getting on a plane alone, to travel 30+ hours, going through different countries and airports is not a good one even with someone else to help you. I honestly don't want to leave early to go back to Alabama, my house is empty, my car isn't there and Beau is gone. The only way I am going to leave early is if Ryan is not going to get the job in Idaho because then that just makes sense.
   If anyone out there wants to make up my mind for me, that would be great.

Ahhhh :(

   It was a little brisk outside, signs of fall showing only in the early hours of the morning, so I got to dress in my favorite salmon colored cardigan with eyelets in the fabric, jeans and a plain white t-shirt. I was comfortable and ready to start my day.
   The black leather of my car seats was warm from the sun and gave off the smell of leather belts and new car glue smell, (my favorite.) The engine hummed to life as a Matt and Kim turned on in my speakers, "Daylight" the perfect song for putting me in a great mood and head nodding. Beau was happily seated in the backseat behind me and he had already started rolling down his window before we turned out of the condos to go down the hill. The wind tangled my hair and whipped it around my face, sticking to my lip gloss, but I didn't mind, it all felt so wonderful.
   We reached the shopping center, Super Target and PetSmart were on our list today as we were in desperate need of toilet paper and the fridge needed restocking. Beau was in the same boat but he needed some training treats for the new intensive training I was planning on putting him through, he was finally going to learn how to lay down.
   I left Beau in the car while I went into target, with windows down of course. Just inside Target is a Starbucks, I normally don't like coffee and especially coffee from Starbucks but the annual Pumpkin Latte is out this time of year and I decided to indulge in one. It tasted just as I had remembered, nice and spicy, the trick is to get it made with soy milk, that way it doesn't end up being too sweet.
   I quickly loaded my cart with fresh veggies, grabbing two bags of potatoes, some Sam Adams Octoberfest, a different pumpkin brew that sounded promising and a huge amount of toilet paper, running out of toilet paper is never an option. There were no lines, as this was late Monday morning when everyone else was either in school or at work. I handed the cashier my coupons, placed the bags in my cart and went back to my car to retrieve Beau.
  Beau was happy to see me again, he acted like I took longer than I actually had. He waited for me to put his leash on very patiently and then he was out of the car, jumping in circles, excited to be on a leash. We stopped at every tree and bush that we passed for smelling and routing in the dirt, his nose was all brown (instead of the usual black) after he looked back up at me as if to say, "Okay, let's go."
   There were a couple of dogs inside the store, most of them getting their long coats shampooed and combed. Beau didn't know it but I had the very same thing in store for him, he needed his nails trimmed. While we were waiting for them to have an open spot, we went to smell the treats and bags of dog food. I don't feed him food with fillers, I wound not eat that, nor should he but as long as you read the labels and pay attention to the serving amount, the good food actually ends up being cheaper per serving. His favorite, and I swear he picked it out, is Nature's Recipe the kind with salmon, sweet potato and pumpkin, I guess he just likes what is yummy.
   I gave him to the lady in the doggy salon, he looked scared of her but I shook her hand told him she was a "nice lady" which is silly to everyone who doesn't know Beau, but it puts him at ease. I went and looked at the Halloween costumes for dogs, Ryan would never let me buy one, he thinks dressing up a dog is mean, but I still like to look, they are so funny.
   Beau made it out safely from getting his nails trimmed, turns out he was sweet and didn't give them any trouble. He was happy again to see me and did his little circle dance when we were leaving. Walking Beau and pushing a cart is not an easy task, but we made it and it was time for a car ride back home to meet Ryan for lunch.

 
  I woke up in dark, but it wasn't too dark for me to realize that this wasn't my tall cloud-like bed in Huntsville that I was laying in. To my disgust I was still in Abu Dhabi, in my hotel room with no idea when I would be home, reunited with my dog and able to drive my car and do things like run errands, cook and clean. When will I be able to taste a pumpkin latte or smell the spice of nutmeg again? Feel the cool breeze and warm sun at the same time? No one knows but I am dreaming about it...

DIY

   I recently found the website www.curbly.com it is a DIY, craft and home improvement kind of website. They have projects ranging in every kind of experience from making your own patio furniture, to home decor. I would really encourage anyone who doesn't mind getting theirs dirty and saving lots of money to check out this website before you go and buy ANYTHING. They really do have the answer.
   When I get home I am going to make some bed side tables and I can't wait! I also think that this is a super cute and and easy project for anyone who is looking to keep cool and not look like a redneck.

   Cool idea right?! Just a can of spray paint in any color you desire and there you go, instant decor! A metallic paint might look cool or do what they did and do some pretty color blocking.
   Here is the original link. http://www.curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/11050-genius-colorful-fan-makeover

Two Weeks Late

   We were suppose to leave Abu Dhabi two weeks ago and it is getting pretty hard to stay positive about this. Ryan's family left for Florida today to go spend time without internet, cell service and other distractions. Ryan and I thought that we would be able to make it for that trip but unfortunately it didn't happen. I am really jealous too and its not because I want to go to a beach its because they are making family memories together, they are my family too and I miss them like crazy!
   I also want to go to bath and body works to buy up a lifetime supply of pumpkin wall flowers and body products for myself haha. Pumpkin season is coming! Stores are already preparing for my favorite time of the year. I am too, the other day I tried looking for pumpkin puree in bulk, yes, I use it enough to where it becomes necessary to buy in bulk. I found a couple of recipes that I want to try though for cakes. One is a chocolate cake with pumpkin cream cheese filling and the other is pumpkin ravioli.
   I could talk about pumpkin forever, I think I might do a special blog for it later on when I can actually eat it and wash it down with something spicy for Octoberfest, best Sam Adams out there, nom. Pumpkin is just a beautiful color and it gives everything a nice smooth texture. It gives desserts a lighter more moist flavor rather than overly sweet, I hate stuff that is too sweet. I painted my house in colors that were named after it, I wanted to buy a car because its seats were pumpkin leather color. My hair products are pumpkin! haha. I just love the smell of nutmeg and cloves and cinnamon. I am a spice kind of person.

Homecoming To Do List.

   When I get back to the state of Alabama, the beautiful, I am not going to waste one minute of my short time there. I have been thinking about everything I am going to do for the last four months of being here and I just wanted to write them down so I could come back and reference my list.

• Hug everyone of my friends in Alabama for an extended amount of time until it becomes awkward. 
• Make a huge Mexican dinner and take it over to Papa Hard's house. 
• Clean out my freezer and fridge, tornado made the power go out, YICKS 
• Clean my entire house! I missed my vacuum and washing machines. 
• Convince Ryan to drive the Camaro to work so I can take the Mini to go to my favorite shopping center and buy groceries and visit Hobby Lobby. 
• Make turkey meatball soup with Ryan. 
• Have a beer with Connor. 
• Plan a sweet date and finally get the chance to wear my dress. 
• Invite John over for an epic meal time inspired dinner to meet his wife and son. 
• Go to visit the Jack Daniel's factory. 
• Make pumpkin pancakes for Sunday breakfast with maple nutmeg whip cream, nom nom nom. 
• Make an entire dinner of potatoes, baked, soup and mash. (they dont know how to make them here) 
• Write a letter to Beau. 
• Sleep in my bed, all day long, live in that wonderful, amazing bed of mine. 
• Paint the living room, trim and washing area. 
• Buy a new suitcase set haha. 

   I can't wait to get home, I won't want to leave but when we do leave it will be to go to my first home, Idaho and get my baby boy. Can't wait to see my dog and family and all of my childhood friends.

P.S. Dubai trip blog is coming, the photos are just a nightmare right now.

Home

Dear America,
 
   I just wanted to let you know that even though I have not seen you a very long time that I still love you. I always tell anyone who asks that my heart belongs to you. I purchased a t-shirt for the Fourth of July with an American Flag on it so that I could celebrate your birth for the rest of my time spent away from you. Since I have been gone my love and loyalty for you has grown stronger and I long for the day when I can once again step foot upon your soil. When that day comes, it will be not a moment too soon and I will celebrate my return to you in the greatest fashion, with fireworks and beer.
     
              Yours truly,
             
                 Tori M. Crumrine.

Abu Dhabi Safari

   Today I went on a safari in the Abu Dhabi desert. The weather was kind of over cast which made it a lot more comfortable outside but some of my pictures turned out a little grainy (no pun intended). There were a lot of us that went and I shared a car with a young German couple, I don't remember the girls name but I remember the boys, Thomas, because thats my moms name. Also we rode with three Southern Korean's, a husband and wife and Troy, his name was easy to remember because it sounded like my name.
   Our driver was from India and lived in Dubai for 24 years and I asked if he was by chance my friend's husband's brother, that's a mouth full, but he wasn't so I didn't punch him. I should have though because he was the worst driver ever. If there were cops around here patrolling the streets he would have been pulled over for drunk driving and then they would have seen he didn't wear a seat belt and that he was just a really bad driver and not drunk at all. He would drive in two lanes at once, change lanes because he wasn't paying attention, talk on his phone, drive in peoples blind spots and my favorite was when he just rolled through a stop sign and almost hit a car that he couldn't see coming around the corner. Oh and he did also passed a semi on a corner! We almost died again coming home!
   When we finally got to the sand dunes I was really beginning to question wether this was his first day driving a manual car or not because he killed it like ten times in a row. I was ready to take over and drive the dunes myself lol. He finally got it figured out, blaming it on the new car and we had a good time getting sideways on the dunes. One of the cars had to stop to let someone puke, I was really surprised that it wasn't me who got sick. Riding on the dunes is like when you go fast up a hill and come back down and your stomach goes up into your lungs and gives you butterflies but over and over again and also much higher hills.

Letting the engines cool off and taking pictures. 

Yeah, that was fun, about 40 foot hill I guess.

   So after a bit more dune bashing we stopped at a camel farm. My favorite part of the day! When we got there, they were all eating and had their backs to us, so it didn't make for very interesting photos. But then this one camel came over to all of us and I swear he was posing for the camera. He was such a ham!  Loving all of the attention. He would pose, hold it and then move to another section and pose again, freaking hilarious.

That's a smile right?!

This is him looking into my camera lol. 

Hamming it up. 

I LOVE this camel! 

   After the camel farm we headed for camp, which I didn't get a picture of, sorry. It was a fence that had been built to kind of enclose a huge sitting area. They had tents and bathrooms and kitchens that lined the perimeter of it and then the center was a huge carpeted stage. Around the stage was more carpet and coffee tables and pillows for sitting on. I drank two cokes because they were cold and then I found out they had water so I drank two of those too. We had a traditional Arabic dinner, chicken kabob, kaftah, hummus, fattouch, rice, and Arabic baklava. I sat down and chatted with the German couple who were very nice.

I asked the driver what is it and he said it WAS a camel.

The sick car finally catching up with us. 

I think these shoes have finally found their place, in the sand.

   Since it was Ramadan they didn't have belly dancing or alcohol. BOOOO. I was really looking forward to the belly dancers but I had not even expected alcohol lol. Even though they were missing, it was still a lot of fun and I got some good pictures out of it. I can't wait to decorate my walls with my trip to the desert, again.

Youtube

   I recently discovered that Etsy has a youtube channel. I watched it for about two hours and didn't even realize how much time flied. Its pretty much a hippy/ hipster kind of channel but they do show you how to make different projects and show you around peoples homes and their art. I am feeling crazy inspired to build something when I get home and the thing I need most is bed side tables. I would just buy any one from the store or thrift store but we have a very tall bed and all side tables are extremely short.

I have a round suitcase like the green one there, I just can't bring myself to go buy legs, I want to find them and repurpose them... spoken like a true hippy. 

I super love this, I am going to table like this for sure, or work this idea into something else. 

This is my favorite by far, but I would need a lot of logs and I don't know who would give us their birch. 

My parents have these blond wood tv trays that have been drawn on with crayons and markers, I wonder if they would give me one or two.

   So my house is really colorful, I chose a very colorful palette for the walls because I just needed color and life.  So I think that with everything as far as furniture and decorative pieces go, we are going to stick with neutrals, white, cream, beige and chocolate. Yeah, that sounds SMART!

   This is the first nature project that inspired me, so simple and I love it.

FIVE MONTHS!

   Think about what you have done in the past five months, probably a lot. Ryan and I got here in March. We were here for Easter, Fourth of July, Spring, Summer, and countless birthdays.

   One thing I really appreciate about this hotel is that they decorate it all the time but always with orchids. Once they had mermaids and shells, Easter, everything in gold, purple orchids rather than the white and now, its Ramadan and we have the lanterns.

   I was just thinking about how long I have been here, I dont really have anything else to say, if you have been following you will know all of the neat things we got to do. Oh Ramadan, its the holy month. Muslims do not eat while the sun is out and all of the restaurants in the hotel are closed except for a couple and they only open at 8pm when the sun is down. Its actually kind of neat though because a lot of places stay open later, which means Ryan and I can go eat when he gets off work! So last night after we drove around for about 20 minutes trying to find it, we finally got our pizza hut and it was well worth the wait. Also I flipped off a car that cut us off and I got a long lecture from Ryan about how I could go to jail. We also concluded that these people probably just buy a drivers license and thats it, they have an issue with letting their 12 and 13 year old kids drive here, Ryan heard it on the radio. I hope that leaving you on that note, you might be able to imagine the types of drivers we are dealing with, we have never once got back to the hotel without a spilt drink.

RANT!

Salary of the US President ...................$400,000 
Salary of retired US Presidents .......... ...$180,000 
Salary of House/Senate .................... ....$174,000
 Salary of Speaker of the House .......... ....$223,500 
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders ........ .$193,400 
Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN IRAQ..$38,000 I think we found where the cuts should be made ! If you agree...RE-POST


   Since I can't say it on facebook, I am taking this to my blog, a rant. If you don't like rants or foul language, stop reading now. Let me just start by asking, where do these people get these numbers? This is the biggest pile of shit I have seen in a while and its all over facebook. The President of the United States of America, the one who is under constant death threat, making decisions based on the greater good of our entires country future gets paid a little under half a million dollars a year and people are pissed about it? Are you fucking kidding me? Celebrities make five times the amount he does and they aren't doing anything but entertaining whinny ass people on facebook! 
  Also $38,000 for a deployed soldier is before you add in the amount they get paid for rent, yes they pay THEM rent. The fact they they don't need to buy food. Pay for being away from home, so not only do they get paid to go there, for rent but also from being away from their family. Plus free health care, the best health care. I am not saying they don't deserve it, I am just saying that a soldier makes more like $80,000 and generals, make MORE than the president. 
  The fact is that these peoples salaries are not the issue. They do a job, they desire to get paid for it. The places that money needs to be cut from medicare, welfare, all the extra soldiers that are deployed. The president is doing is best, but he was put in charge when there was a pretty astronomical debt already there and absolutely no ideas on how to keep it from getting worse. War is expensive, people who wont get off their ass and keep sucking of the governments titty are expensive. 

Art

   I have these ideas for some paintings using things in my hotel room. I dreamt them up last night when I was not sleeping and keeping up Ryan. I was trying to get onto pottermore all night and finally went to bed an hour before it opened because I didn't know what time it would be, Ryan of course found it the first time he tried.
  Although I will be using things found here in my hotel room, I still need some supplies, mainly a canvas, as this hotel is not my canvas, that would be bad to stain it with my art. The paintings will be very small and I guess you could say abstract.
   The idea came to me when I was thinking about how everyone who has offered to commission a piece by me has asked me for an abstract piece to match their house... I have never done one of the requests as I feel the term abstract is a very abstract term. It is such an empty word to me and the art is done more properly by children who don't think about what the end product will be. Never the less inspiration struck and I hope this is what people might consider tasteful abstraction.
   So to put it more formally, I am starting a series inspired by Abu Dhabi. I can't say wether it will be for sell as I always keep the best stuff for myself, but we shall see.