Love my Saturdays

I don't know why I love our Saturdays here...it is pretty much a Monday and I never loved Mondays back home. Maybe it is because it still feels like a weekend day in my mind even if John is back to work and we are starting a new week. I have a pretty set routine on Saturdays and it is the only day that I am pretty set on maintaing a consistent schedule. I have found that it helps us have a much better week.


This Saturday started off with finishing up our Halloween decor at our door! My mom sent us a package with lots of Halloween goodies and we had fun decorating and also have lots of fun things for a Halloween party I hope to have for Peyton and her friends. Feels kind of weird to be having Halloween decorations up in the middle of the desert when it is upper 90's but it is fun!

I always start of Saturday with dropping Peyton off at school. Her school is about a three minute drive and not far at all and maybe when it gets cooler we will walk but for now we drive. She actually asked to go to school so we left too early and I let her and Graham come sit in the front seat while we were waiting. I don't let her sit in the front...or Graham ...even if that is what all the Saudi kids do...seriously...there is no such thing as car seats and it is a common sight to see a baby sitting in the front seat in someone's lap. I will never get used to seeing that or not get angry every time. Anyways...while we were waiting we played with the camera...got a picture of Peyton and Graham, Peyton showing me her show and tell object for "C" day and then she took some pictures of me. It was kind of nice to just chat and be silly together.

After school drop off, Graham and I go and drop off my dry cleaning. The water for our washing machine is hard, salt water and ruins clothes. I have learned to just dry clean nice jeans, pants, dark dresses or shirts and pay the tiny bit and have them done right than have ruined clothes with bleach marks. Pretty much it is only darks that get streaked so my dry cleaning is limited and at $5 for 8 shirts and 2 pairs of pants...I don't think it is breaking the bank. 

After we drop of the dry cleaning and pick up a copy of our community newsletter that has everything going on for the week we head over to our dining hall for Saturday morning breakfast/coffee time that happens every week. 

We have a group of 15 ladies but each week it is only around 5-6 there and it is always a joy to sit around a chat and catch up with a variety of women. These women have meant so much to me and are always a source of encouragement, comfort and just a fun to be around. Such a mixture of ages, nationalities, stages of life but we all find commonality in something and can sit around for hours. It is always a great way to start the week and the weeks I am not there I find the rest of the week just kind of drags on by and is not the same.


I then pick up Peyton, Graham goes down for a long nap and I get her lunch and she watches some cartoons while I pick up, do dishes, start any laundry we didn't get to on the weekend and just make sure the house is in order for the week and we have meals planned. I try very hard to stay home the remaining part of Saturdays because if I am out here and there or having coffee/play dates all afternoon I find myself feeling overwhelmed and it carries over to the rest of the week. Throughout the day I will plan some play dates for the week, plan the next week meals (I do it a week ahead since it is so much work to get groceries) look at our grocery situation/to do list and determine if we need to make a trip into Khobar and if so when would be the best and finally just catch up on emails and other things to do. It always ends up being a busy day and such a nice way to start my week..productive!


So...happy Saturday and looking forward to a wonderful week with a play date at a friends house, play date at our house, Graham immunization appointment (we do delayed vaccinations so he has one a month), hopefully a horse riding lesson, Mommy and Me Yoga, swimming,  a bazaar at a friends camp and I am sure more things will pop up!